Capitol Hill Cubans

Latest Cuba Opinion Survey: Repression High, Reforms Weak

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:53:00 +0000

The International Republican Institute (IRI) has just released its yearly public opinion survey conducted within Cuba between January 20 – February 20, 2013.

Among the key findings:

- Repression of free speech and civil liberties remains high. A majority of respondents (69 percent) answered that in the last two years it has not gotten easier to speak one’s mind in public without retribution.

- Cuts in government jobs and the lack of private sector opportunities are driving Cubans into the informal/black market economy to survive. Despite government claims that the private sector is expanding, responses suggest that employment in this sector increased by only three percent from last year. In contrast, respondents who claimed to work in the informal sector expanded by nine percent.

- Hesitancy to respond to sensitive, politically-oriented questions persists; 15 percent of respondents refused to answer whether they think Cubans should vote to choose their president, and 20 percent did not answer when asked if, under certain circumstances, the government represses its own people.

- Cubans seem optimistic about economic reforms implemented over the last six years and believe them to be important. However, 64 percent say they are not benefiting from these reforms directly. Those who say they benefit are mostly concentrated in Havana and the western provinces of the island.

- Despite reports of increased access to the Internet on the island and the connection of the island’s first fiber optic cable, only four percent of respondents reported having access to both Internet and email.

See the full survey here.

A total of 688 Cuban adults were asked questions ranging from access to Internet and cell phone usage, their outlook on their economic future and the state of repression against Cubans by the Castro government. The survey was conducted in 14 Cuban provinces and has a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percent, and a 95 percent level of confidence. This survey was the eighth of its kind conducted by IRI on the island since 2007.

Venezuela Launches Cuban-Restored Missile

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:09:00 +0000

Yesterday, the Venezuelan government conducted the test launch of an Otomat missile, model MK2.

Eighteen of these missiles have been restored, thanks to Cuban specialists, for use by Venezuela's Bolivarian Armed Forces.

Venezuela's appointed leader, Nicolas Maduro, announced the launch (and Cuba's support) with much fanfare, as well as the upcoming restoration of AMX 3 light tanks and EE-11 Urutú armored personnel carriers.

What exactly is Cuba's dictatorship arming Venezuela (which currently even has shortages of toilet paper) for?

Two Months Later: Cuban Rapper Remains Imprisoned

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:03:00 +0000

This week, Beyonce and Jay-Z released a set of new, stylish pictures of their trip to Cuba.

(Apparently, the pictures were meant to market some of the clothing she was wearing.)

In an interview in "Good Morning America", Beyonce recently said she was "shocked" by the criticism of their trip.

Because apparently, traveling to totalitarian dictatorships should be a normal thing.

Why aren't they "shocked" by the fact that fellow artist, Angel Yunier Remon, a young Cuban rapper remains in prison?

He was arrested over two moths ago for his opposition to Castro's regime.

Yunier, from the rap duo "The Children That Nobody Wanted," remains imprisoned without trial or charges at Las Mangas, a prison in Bayamo.

Who will speak out for Angel Yunier Remon?

Obviously, not any people-to-people travelers.

Tweet of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:59:00 +0000

Incredible that the trial against ex-dictator Rios Montt in Guatemala has been reversed. The place for dictators is jail.

Increíble que den marcha atrás en Guatemala en el juicio contra el exdictador Ríos Montt. El lugar de los dictadores es la cárcel
— JORGE RAMOS (@jorgeramosnews) May 22, 2013

Amnesty International: Repression in Cuba Increases

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:40:00 +0000

Amnesty International has just released its 2013 Annual Report on the state of the world's human rights.

Its Executive Summary on Cuba says it all:

Repression of independent journalists, opposition leaders and human rights activists increased. There were reports of an average of 400 short-term arrests each month and activists travelling from the provinces to Havana were frequently detained. Prisoners of conscience continued to be sentenced on trumped-up charges or held in pre-trial detention.

The AP's Havana Bureau is "Out-of-Touch"

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:06:00 +0000

The AP's Havana bureau ran a story today about U.S. diplomat Conrad Tribble's efforts to interact with some of the Castro regime's official bloggers.

Of course, no story from the AP's Havana bureau is complete without taking a shot at Cuba's courageous dissidents.

(And its apparent hope that U.S. diplomats are diverting their focus from supporting dissidents to "seducing" their harassers.)

Thus, the AP writes:

"Washington is eager to reach a more diverse audience, as shown by a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable published in 2010 by WikiLeaks that described the small opposition as aging, ineffective, torn by infighting and hopelessly out of touch with most Cubans."

Here's the cable referred to in the AP's story.

Can someone pinpoint where it says that Cuba's dissidents "are hopelessly out of touch"?

Let's save you some time.

It doesn't.

How about "ineffective"?

No, doesn't use that term either.

These terms were courtesy of the sensationalist editing of the AP's Havana bureau, in order to keep its hosts (and biases) happy.

However, the cable does say that Cuba's dissidents are "comparatively old" (not sure to whom) and that they lack "unity of purpose" (a ridiculous claim).

In this regards, the cable (written by former USINT principal, Jonathan Farrar) was plain wrong -- and time has proven it.

In the last few months, the world has witnessed first-hand the young, united and dynamic faces of Cuba's pro-democracy movement.

Do these people (picture below) seem old and lacking "unity of purpose" to you?

(From left: Antonio Rodiles, Roberto de Jesús, Laritza Diversent, Mirian Celaya, Eliecer Ávila and Yoani Sánchez.)

And that's not to mention Jose Daniel Ferrer, Sara Marta Fonseca, Rosa Maria Paya, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez" and all of these young women that strike fear into Castro's regime.

If anyone is old and out-of-touch, it's the octogenarian Castro regime -- and the AP's Havana reporting.

Quote(s) of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:05:00 +0000

I used to think that people could be defended from within the system, but then I experienced the other side.

-- Eliecer Avila, young Cuban democracy activist, during a panel presentation in Sweden's parliament, 5/21/13

What some see as lack of unity in Cuba's opposition is, in fact, its diversity and the richness of its positions.

-- Miriam Celaya, young Cuban blogger and democracy activist, during a panel presentation in Sweden's parliament, 5/21/13

The Ladies in White Are True Heroes

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:05:00 +0000

By Fabiola Santiago in The Miami Herald:

Damas de Blanco are true heroes

Whether in the streets of Cuba, at international forums — or now in Miami before they return to the island — these brave women are a peaceful but powerful force to behold.

Las Damas de Blanco.

Ten long years ago they came together after the government crackdown on dissidents and independent journalists known as Black Spring, when 74 men and one woman were thrown in prison and handed long sentences.

The men were their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers. The Ladies in White became their voices on the outside.

To this day, despite beatings and detentions, in Havana and eastern Santiago de Cuba, they silently march together to church on Sundays wearing white and carrying gladioli to call the world’s attention to the regime’s repression and abuses.

“The love of family,” the women say, united them and fueled a movement that despite the increasing repression, the brutal beatings by police and paramilitary thugs, the suspicious death of their founder, Laura Pollán, and the incarceration of members, is growing.

In temporary freedom in Miami — where as Belkis Cantillo, leader in Santiago de Cuba puts it, “we feel at home” — they tell their story with simple but effective words.

The Cuban regime’s brutes — grown men with closed fists — beat them and drag them from the street into buses to keep them away from public view.

One of those men who hit and dragged her into a bus was a 26-year-old named Norberto.

Cantillo told him: “You really don’t want to hit us, but you’re doing it for the jaba,’’ the bag of needed supplies with which the government rewards loyalty.

He lowered his head, Cantillo says.

Later, Norberto asked one of the two nurses the Cuban government has on hand — to make sure the women don’t die from a public beating — how Cantillo was feeling.

Cantillo told him: “Isn’t the real question here, how hungry are you?”

And so, the Damas carry on their work, spreading their message of peaceful change toward freedom and democracy.

Cantillo shared the stage Monday at the landmark Freedom Tower with María Labrado Pollán, daughter of the late founder of Las Damas de Blanco, and with Berta Soler, the group’s current leader.

“Guardians of freedom,” Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padrón called them.

Theirs are no small acts of heroism. Not when you consider that one of their members, Sonia Garro, has been imprisoned by the Cuban government since March 18, 2012. More than a year later, she hasn’t been charged, nor has there been a trial.

What was her crime? Expressing her desire for an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, who made time to see both the Castro brothers but had no time for the church-going Ladies in White.

Garro and her husband, Ramón Muñoz González, were arrested as part of a massive sweep to keep dissidents away from the events surrounding the pope’s trip to Cuba.

Human rights organizations have denounced that police raided her home, shot her with rubber bullets and took her away to Manto Negro women’s prison, where she is being held with criminal and insane inmates. Her husband was sent to Combinado del Este, where he also remains without charges or trial.

Despite the lack of intervention on their behalf by Cardinal Jaime Ortega, these women express nothing but love of God and church, and mention generous parish priests who support them.

“We love Christ and we’re not going to fight with the church,” Soler says.

Theirs are no small acts of heroism when one takes into account that Laura Pollán was taken to the hospital by Soler to be treated for shortness of breath and a diabetic imbalance — and Pollán never made it out alive.

Labrado says that she was so sure her mother was going to recuperate that, when the hospital called and asked her to come, she took the time to make cafecito to share with the people who had been there all night.

“They thought that, without Laura, Las Damas were going to dissolve, to disappear, but instead we’re growing and will continue to grow,” Labrado says. “Laura Pollán lives through us, and we’re not afraid because the freedom of Cuba is worth it.”

When the history of 21st century women’s movements is written, Las Damas de Blanco will merit an extensive chapter.

As they begin the return to their homeland, they deserve the world’s vigilance, support, and protection.

Today on "From Washington al Mundo"

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:05:00 +0000

Today #FWAM, @grecianformula on China's new missile, @brookingsinst mobile tech v. global poverty, @fixsean on Rubio/IRS @siriusxm #153 4pm
— Cristina Radio (@radiocristina) May 22, 2013

Fidel's Philosophy Revealed

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:40:00 +0000

A scandal is brewing in Venezuela pursuant to yesterday's release of a recording of conversations between Chavez's main media figure, Mario Silva, and the head of Cuba's intelligence apparatus in Venezuela, Lt. Col. Aramis Palacio.

In the recording, Silva reveals:

"My Comandante Fidel [Castro] told me on one occasion, and he has to remember, because that was one of the meetings I had with him. He said he did not understand why Comandante Chavez still was not finished with bourgeois elections.

Because the people make mistakes and I absolutely agree. I absolutely and totally agree. The elections here, as currently set up, can become a real pain, and destroy the Revolution."

And there you have it.

Fidel is afraid of elections because "the people make mistakes."

In other words, he knows the people would "get it right" and have booted him out long ago.

Thus, the Castro brothers have ruled for over five decades through a totalitarian dictatorship, in which the people are coerced through fear and force.

And he wanted Chavez to do the same.

Cuba Violates Religious Freedom

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Today, the U.S. Department of State released its International Religious Freedom Report for 2012.

According to the Executive Summary of the Report:

In Cuba, the Communist Party, through its Office of Religious Affairs, continued to monitor and control most aspects of religious life. Although many religious groups reported reduced interference from the government in conducting services, importing religious materials, receiving donations from overseas, and in traveling abroad, serious restrictions to the freedom of religion remained. The government regularly prevented peaceful human rights activists, including members of the Ladies in White, from attending religious services, and routinely used government-sponsored protest groups to assault or detain them. Before Pope Benedict XVI’s visit, authorities arrested many members of the peaceful political opposition or prevented them from leaving their homes to participate with the Pope in celebrating mass. A number of religious groups, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons, continued their years-long wait for a decision from the Ministry of Justice on pending applications for official recognition.

May 20th: An Unforgettable Day

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:40:00 +0000

By Cuban journalist and former prisoner of conscience, Normando Hernández, in The Bush Institute's Freedom Collection:

In his book Cuba: Early Years of Independence (1911), Rafael Ortiz writes that on May 20th, 1902 in Cuba, “The joy was general and it was legitimate; Cubans were touching their dreams … all parties held up until ‘then’ had been pale compared to those celebrated on that memorable date.” Nothing else could be expected from Cubans after four centuries of Spanish colonization and three years of U.S. occupation.

It wasn’t just the Cuban diaspora celebrating the birth of the new republic. Tampa’s newspaper, The Morning Tribune, in a review entitled “The Cuban Citizens Hail Their New Republic,” reported: “There were few houses in Ybor City and West Tampa that did not join the consecration of Cuba Libre (Free Cuba). Homes and businesses of Cuban residents in Tampa were festooned with flags and portraits of Cuban heroes… American merchants, also enthusiastic, showed their joy decorating their businesses with the colors of Cuba. Sponsored by the National Cuban Club, there were several functions with music, speeches, fireworks, parties and religious services, which made this Cuban ’4th of July celebration’ in Tampa impossible to forget for Cubans and all other citizens.”

Unfortunately, in Cuba these celebrations only lasted 57 years. The Castro brothers came to power in 1959 and rejected May 20th as a holiday. Thankfully, Cubans haven’t allowed anyone to snatch their history from them. They continue to celebrate May 20th in Cuba under Castro’s repression. Those living in the diaspora, like their predecessors in 1902, celebrate it as well.

Americans continue to celebrate with them. We cannot forget the solidarity of President George W. Bush, who during his eight years in office, never let May 20th pass without sending messages of support to Cubans on this significant date. We recall that on May 20th, 2007, President Bush publicly announced shipments of cell phones to Cuba to help break through the regime’s monopoly on information. Moreover, we remember his Initiative for a New Cuba , the Commission for Supporting a Free Cuba and his proclamation of a day of solidarity with the Cuban people.

We hope that one day soon, with continued solidarity between Cubans and Americans, Cuba can once again celebrate new freedoms, as it did in 1902. For that, we continue our struggle. As President Bush said: “We do not wait for the day of freedom in Cuba; we work for the day of freedom in Cuba.”

Amen.

Important Quote of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:08:00 +0000

The Cubans make the decisions within [Venezuela's] General Directorate of Military Counter-Intelligence. A great deal of attention is given to the suggestions and comments they make. They are the ones that design the plans and manage the type of action that counter-intelligence is going to take against the opposition, students and anyone else.

-- Venezuelan intelligence official, told El Nuevo Herald under condition of anonymity, 5/20/13

Raul's Bogus Reforms Exposed

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:41:00 +0000

As we've long argued -- and every Cuban pro-democracy leader has recently confirmed -- the so-called "reforms" by Raul Castro are simply a scam for the regime to buy time and extend its rule.

However, none of the reforms are substantial.

The proof is in the pudding.

After years of Raul's hyped agricultural "reforms," here are the results:

During the 1st quarter of 2013, the production of crops outside of the sugar sector have decreased by 7.8%; among which vegetable production has decreased by 20.8%.

Great job, Raul.

Meanwhile, as regards the so-called "self-employment" sector, the Castro regime's inspectors have been raiding kiosks throughout Old Havana.

They have told licensed "self-employed" vendors that they can only sell products from within their own homes. Moreover, that they can only sell artisan products they have made themselves. In other words, they cannot sell foreign clothing or brands, nor any product acquired from the state's wholesale markets (the only ones that exists) or sold in a state store.

As one "self-employed" vendor stated, "with these people nothing is for sure, they take one step forward and two steps back."

More "reform" you can't believe in.

Where Dictators Should Die

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:33:00 +0000

General Jorge Rafael Videla, head of the military junta that ruled over Argentina from 1976-1983, died last week at the age of 87.

He died where all dictators should die -- in prison.

Videla was serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity.

It shouldn't be forgotten that during its rule, Videla's brutal regime found Cuba's Fidel Castro to be its biggest protector from international scrutiny.

In the study, "Unusual Alliance: Cuban-Argentine Relations in Geneva, 1976-1983," Kezia McKeague documents how the Castro regime provided cover for the Argentine dictatorship at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

In part, it was to protect themselves from human rights criticism, but also as thanks for the Argentine regime's grain shipments to the USSR, which sought to circumvent U.S. sanctions at the time.

At the end of the day, dictators have no ideology -- just a zeal for absolute power.

Today on "From Washington al Mundo"

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:23:00 +0000

Today #FWAM, @latinocoalition Pres & fmr SBA head Hector Barreto, crime in CentAm & @followfdd on al-Qaeda in Nigeria @siriusxm #153 4 pm
— Cristina Radio (@radiocristina) May 20, 2013

Cuban Artist's Paintings Confiscated

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:20:00 +0000

Yesterday, the Castro regime's secret police burst into the home of famed Cuban artist Danilo Maldonado (known as "El Sexto").

El Sexto was arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned overnight.

All of his work was seized, along with his camera and laptop computer.

After a night of interrogations, while his home and belongings were meticulously searched, El Sexto was released this morning.

But any art deemed to have a "political reference" was confiscated.

Five New U.S. Fugitives in Cuba

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:01:00 +0000

From Sun-Sentinel:

Investigators announced charges Thursday against 33 people they said were involved in staging accidents for insurance fraud — the latest hit in a three-year investigation that identified about $20 million in fraudulently obtained payouts from insurers.

Operation Sledgehammer, a state and federal investigation, has led to charges being filed against a total of 92 defendants from Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Those already convicted have been ordered to pay more than $5 million in restitution to insurance companies so far, prosecutors said.

The fraud involved a "massive," complicated, highly organized scheme that investigators said included everyone from clinic owners and medical staff who provided fraudulent diagnoses and prescribed fake treatment, to office workers who billed for the services, and recruiters who found accident "victims" and trained them to stage collisions on the streets and highways of South Florida.

Of the 33 charged, 26 have been arrested or agreed to surrender, federal and state law enforcement officials said at a Thursday afternoon news conference in the U.S. Attorney's Office in West Palm Beach.

Five of the defendants, including alleged ringleaders Vladimir Lopez, 38, and Lazaro Vigoa Mauri, 45, both formerly of West Palm Beach, have fled to Cuba and they and the other defendants who have not yet been caught are considered fugitives, authorities said.

The other three are Dagoberto Milian Lopez, 57, Eduart Gonzalez, 35, and Obelio Rodriguez, 44.

Travelers Ignore Castro's Racism

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:01:00 +0000

By Dr. Javier Garcia-Bengochea y Bolivar:

The criticism thus far of the Cuban vacation taken by Beyonce and Jay-Z has been easy: celebrities doing as they please, regardless of the circumstances, above the letter or intent of the law and unconstrained to consider the consequences. However, these are the low hanging mangos. Consider the more disturbing aspects of this trip.

Unlike most Americans, the Knowles-Carter’s wealth affords them the resources to be enlightened about the evolving situation in Cuba (or anywhere). Should they have known of the severe racism and human rights abuses in Cuba and that overwhelmingly Afro-Cubans are the victims? Yes. In fact, detention and repression in Cuba are at all-time highs and like the Jim Crow South, they are arbitrary, unjustified and targeted towards blacks.

What has become of the Cuban revolution from a racial perspective? Blacks remain second class Cubans, worse than before. As Che Guevara said early on, “we’re going to do for blacks exactly what blacks did for the revolution. By which I mean: nothing.” He was not promoting egalitarianism when he said, “the negro is indolent and lazy, and spends his money on frivolities, whereas the European is forward-looking, organized and intelligent.” Does it matter that he was referring to the Congolese?

More recently, Mark Sawyer, a political scientist at UCLA quotes a Cuban Interior Ministry official on page 119 of his book, Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba, “it is simply a sociological fact that blacks are more violent and criminal than whites. They also do not work as hard and cannot be trusted”. This from a government official. Jay-Z, please empty your pockets before you leave Cuba.

These reflect the unspoken and unintended consequence of Marxism in the Caribbean: the consideration of blacks as equals, which Fidel Castro, et al, despite popular belief (propaganda) never fully accepted or dealt with over 54 years. His fiat mandating the end of racial discrimination to avoid this critical issue had the opposite and pernicious effect of exponentially increasing culturally and institutionally inherent racism there; it was, to be charitable, a cop out.

Yet, when confronted with reality, the incredible poverty in Cuba, race has been a convenient excuse for failure. When asked after a few years why the revolution was struggling, Fidel Castro extemporaneously replied, referring to the mass exodus of professional whites, “you expect me to build a communist utopia with these people (blacks)?”

Amazingly, this has been lost on the regime's apologists, particularly among African-Americans, some of the regime's strongest supporters. Being anti-embargo or sympathetic to the Castro regime has become more than political fashion; it is a form of anti-establishmentarianism. They delight in the Castros habitually kicking Uncle Sam in the shins largely because they perceive Cuban socialism to be pro-black (or anti-white).

All this despite a ruling class in Cuba that remains predominantly white and that Afro-Cubans, who comprise the majority of Cubans, are paid in a worthless currency, are discriminated against for jobs and access to resources, overwhelmingly populate Cuban prisons and endure relentless racial harassment. This alone should have repulsed the Knowles-Carters.

Yet, African-Americans hold on to their largely uninformed and empirically racist views that the Cuban revolution represents black empowerment akin to our civil rights movement. This cognitive dissonance stems from their ignorance of the above and the simple, misguided predicate that if predominantly white, right-wing, Cuban-American exiles are against Fidel, then they are for him.

What is indisputable is that the pro-democracy movement in Cuba over the past 20 years has been embraced and championed by Afro-Cubans, who comprise its most prominent leaders and activists. Theirs is a model for racial unity in the struggle for a higher ideal: human rights. Beyonce and Jay-Z, shamelessly cavorting with and being used by Cuba’s oligarchs, dissed them.

The Knowles-Carter vacation is no different than any recreational travel to Cuba: it funds the elites in Cuba and strengthens the internal embargo between these elites and Cuba’s people. Such travel to Cuba by Americans, trafficking in stolen property and supporting this abhorrent apartheid further separates Cubans from their very basic freedoms that icons like Rosa Parks and MLK risked and gave their lives to secure. Cuba has dozens of these heroes marginalized by this activity.

So in this context Beyonce and Jay-Z escape to Cuba for a fairy tale anniversary, the forbidden fruit of a vacation enabled by the promiscuity that has infected licensed travel there, to a place that has become a metaphor for the plantation. Yes, they are elites, much like their Cuban hosts, who leveraged their celebrity with their counterparts in our government for pure pleasure without considering this disgraceful reality. While such narcissism may simply be entitlement run amok, they simply should have known better.

This is the disturbing hypocrisy of their trip and what they might stand for, if anything at all.

Cuba Libre

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:00:00 +0000

Click below to watch:

Why Cuba Travel Sanctions Are Important

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:12:00 +0000

The BBC's story this week about the Castro regime's upcoming golf resort illustrates why travel sanctions towards Cuba are important.

Here are some excerpts:

"Five decades after Fidel Castro ordered Cuba's golf courses to be closed down because he considered them 'elitist,,' the island's communist government has approved the construction of a luxury golf resort, complete with an 18-hole course."

In case you had any doubt that the Castro regime is simply another Latin American military dictatorship -- the longest lasting and most brutal one, at that.

"The move is a sign of the changing times here, as the government seeks new revenue sources to fund its socialist revolution."

The Castro regime is desperate to continue cashing-in on foreign travelers.

"[British resort executive Andrew McDonald] confirmed that a formal deal had been reached for a joint venture between Esencia and the Cuban government to develop the Carbonera resort, a short distance along the coast."

Because Cuba's travel industry is owned and operated by Castro's military. Moreover, once Castro no longer needs him , Mr. McDonald will join some of his fellow British businessmen in a Cuban prison cell.

"Attempts to drill for oil and bring economic independence to Cuba have come up dry and the death of the island's key financial backer, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, has made the future more uncertain."

The U.S. should not bail out Castro's dictatorship.

"Tourism is now the second biggest source of income on an island once closed to the outside world."

U.S. tourists would make travel Castro's foremost source of income.

"Last year, 2.8 million people visited Cuba, mostly opting for all-inclusive hotel deals along palm-lined golden beaches."

So much for supporting the Cuban people -- or for tourists democratizing Cuba.

"But figures suggest golf tourists spend four times more than pure sun-seekers, and Cuba wants to tap into that potential."

Did anyone think it was a mere coincidence that Fidel's son reportedly "won" a golf tournament in Varadero last month, which state media reported and distributed internationally?

"A round costs five times the average monthly state wage here."

So much for the Cuban people.

"'You go to Florida and there's lots of choice. Here there's just the one,' said a Canadian golfer [referring to golf courses]."

Sadly, for Cubans that applies to all aspects of life.

"With more courses, 'you could have a helluva good time here,' added the Canadian golfer."

With choices and freedom, so could the Cuban people. But these tourists are underwriting their oppression.

Russia Frets Castro Can't Afford New Arms

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:27:00 +0000

A senior Russian official stated this week that his country's military cooperation with Cuba continues, but it is limited by the Castro regime's limited financial resources.

Russia's military cooperation with Havana "is determined by the modest financial possibilities of our partners," said Alexandr Fomín, deputy director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation.

Just imagine what would happen if Castro did have financial resources -- say from unconditionally lifting U.S. trade and travel sanctions.

Meanwhile, Venezuela has currently signed $11 billion worth of arms deals with Russia -- yet it (literally) is running out of toilet paper.

Exposing the Myth of Racial Equality in Cuba

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:39:00 +0000

By Jon Perdue in The Miami Herald:

Crackdown on Afro-Cubans destroys myth of racial equality

At the time of Fidel Castro’s takeover of Cuba in 1959, “separate but equal” was the norm in much of the Western world. Castro won plaudits from early supporters for banning the practice of separate facilities on the island, promising a raceless, equal society under the new regime. Today, the regime instead targets any Afro-Cuban who dares challenge the historical fallacy that blacks on the island have fared better under the Revolution.

Afro-Cuban fealty to the Castro regime after the fall of Batista was certainly understandable. Fresh on their minds was the historical remembrance of having been a significant contingent of the forces that fought and defeated Spanish colonial rule, yet they were subsequently denied the respect and dignity that should have followed. A fledgeling 1912 resistance movement was so brutally put down by the white-dominated post-colonial ruling class that it served to drive the revolt underground for a generation or more. That memory has persisted through much of the Castro years, though it’s effect on their will to resist has waned in recent years as the island’s most visible political prisoners, and recent political martyrs, have been predominantly black.

The regime’s racially-focused crackdown received international attention last month when Roberto Zumbrano was fired from his job as editor of a publishing house in Havana after his New York Times article pointed out the reality for Afro-Cubans in Cuba: “To question the extent of racial progress was tantamount to a counterrevolutionary act,” Zambrano wrote. “This made it almost impossible to point out the obvious: racism is alive and well.” About the same time, an overtly racist cartoon video, made by paid propagandists of the Castro regime and uploaded to YouTube, slandered Berta Soler, the head of the peaceful protest group Ladies in White, portraying her as an orangutan.

Soler took the mantle as the head of the Ladies in White after its former leader, Laura Pollán, died in mysterious circumstances after a run-in with the regime’s enforcers last year. The group has come under more aggressive attacks in the last year, enduring beatings while in the act of leaving their Havana church to walk silently and carrying a single flower in remembrance of their political prisoner husbands and family members.

Soler is in Oslo this week to receive the Václav Havel Prize at the Oslo Freedom Forum, an international human rights event that brings dissidents from throughout the world to a place where they can speak freely, out from under the gaze of their oppressors.

I asked Soler about the claim by the Castro regime of “solidarity” with the Afro-Cuban community in Cuba, and whether there was overt racism practiced by the government. “Blacks in Cuba not only have fewer relatives living and working abroad that can send money for food and other basics, but they are also excluded from having one of the few profit-making small businesses in tourism, or paladares (small, privately-owned restaurants), or taxi services that others can access to make a living and support their families. And those who control all of this are the majority white bureaucracy that will tell you to your face that, because your parents weren’t military or part of the government, that you can’t be hired or open a small business,” Soler said.

Soler recounted the beatings which she and the other Ladies in White have received for speaking out, and that the tactics of repression now included being stuck with needles to induce fear that one could be susceptible to infection and subsequently denied medical care, if the regime so chooses.

International human rights conclaves such as this can serve, to some extent, as an extra layer of protection for those courageous enough to speak out, though it is a dangerous trade off. Crossing the threshold from obscure voice against a violent oppressor to internationally-recognized dissident is the most perilous time for many of those who are here to share the stage with Soler.

The Human Rights Foundation, a New York-based human rights organization that puts on the conference, just published a harrowing tale of its multi-year effort to extract internationally-renowned free speech advocate Ali Abdulemam from Bahrain.

Though Abdulemam was given political asylum in the UK, his wife and children remain in Bahrain, still in danger until they can hopefully join him in London. To those like Soler, who will return to their home country, the vigilance of these international human rights defenders will be the only protection that they may have from a regime that has become so indifferent to criticism it allegedly killed well-known dissident Oswaldo Paya recently by running his car off the road. The speculation is that the senescence of the Castro brothers and their potential loss of Venezuela’s petroleum lifeline following the death of Hugo Chávez has spurred an increase in repression of the island’s dissident voices.

Asked whether she would consider seeking asylum outside of Cuba, Soler said defiantly, “I will always return to Cuba, no matter what they do to me.” Perhaps sharing the stage with Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat and North Korean democracy activist Park Sang Hak, both of whom will share the Václav Havel Prize with the Ladies in White, will bring enough pressure against the regime to stop, or at least diminish, the racially-tinged repression that Soler and others have long struggled against in Cuba.

Cuba: A Totalitarian State on the Take

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:18:00 +0000

The Toronto Star and The Miami Herald have published an exclusive interview with one of the Canadian businessmen, Sarkis Yacoubian, imprisoned by the Castro regime.

It is a textbook example of the Castro brother's tactics.

Yacoubian has been clearly broken by the Castro regime, after being held in undisclosed locations and interrogated (and probably worse) for nearly two-years without charges or trial.

He's now serving as a ruse for one of the Castro brother's classic purgings, pointing his finger (better yet, having his finger pointed) horizontally -- but not straight to the top.

Yacoubian will plead guilty and play off Castro's script, hoping he will be allowed to return home soon.

Yet everyone knows that Yacoubian's business activities in totalitarian Cuba were conducted at the highest levels.

The closing quote says it all:

“Don’t be a hero,” Yacoubian says. “Heroes are so sad.”

Here are some excerpts from the story:

Speaking over a scratchy telephone line from inside a Cuban prison, Sarkis Yacoubian’s voice goes suddenly silent. He’s crying.

“I was so depressed at times, I wanted to commit suicide,” says the 53-year-old entrepreneur.

In exclusive interviews from the La Condesa prison, Yacoubian provides an insider’s view of a sweeping anti-corruption campaign by the government of Raúl Castro that has seen several foreign businessmen — including himself and another Toronto-area businessman — jailed.

A joint investigation by The Toronto Star and El Nuevo Herald has found that in a corruption-plagued country described in secret U.S. government cables as “a state on the take,” the two jailed Canadians are embroiled in a high-stakes diplomatic and legal stand-off between Havana and Ottawa, potentially jeopardizing millions in taxpayer dollars that underwrite Canada’s trade with Cuba.

Arrested in July 2011 and detained for nearly two years without charges, Yacoubian, who ran a transport and trading company, was finally handed a 63-page indictment last month accusing him of bribery, tax evasion and “activities damaging to the economy.”

A suspect who says he quickly pointed the finger at widespread wrongdoing by other Canadian and foreign businesses, Yacoubian now faces up to 12 years in prison after he pleads guilty at his trial set to begin next Thursday. The charges were filed in a special Havana court for Crimes against the Security of the State, which can effectively hold trials in secret [...]

[T]heir Havana offices are shuttered, their fortunes frozen and their future in limbo.

Cuban authorities in Havana and at the country’s embassy in Ottawa declined to be interviewed for this story.

Complicating matters is that millions in Canadian taxpayer dollars funded by the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) — a kind of broker that underwrites contracts between the Cuban government and select Canadian firms — may be at stake [...]

Whisked away to a “safe house” for questioning and allowed outside for only one hour a day, Yacoubian says he slipped into desperation and depression. “I had lost my mind,” he says. “I was talking to myself, banging my head.”

Then Yacoubian made a fateful choice: He blew the whistle. “Maybe in my conscience I wanted my company to be brought down so that I could tell once for all things that are going on,” he says. “It was just eating me alive.”

He told his interrogators that he had little choice but to hand over money to bureaucrats or officials to secure contracts or even to ensure they were honored after winning a bid.

“If I didn’t pay, at the end of the day they would just create problems for me,” he says. Prosecutors allege in their court filing that Yacoubian or his employees bribed at least a dozen state officials with everything from nice dinners and prepaid phone cards to cash — $300 for a tip on a deal, $50,000 for a 2008 contract on earth movers.

Cuba Leads Venezuela From Behind

noreply@blogger.com (Capitol Hill Cubans) — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:19:00 +0000

From Reuters in 2009:

Cuba, in the grip of a serious economic crisis, is running short of toilet paper and may not get sufficient supplies until the end of the year, officials with state-run companies said Friday.

From CNN today:

To avoid getting caught with their pants down, Venezuelan officials say they will confront a toilet paper shortage by importing 50 million rolls to meet demand.

Toilet paper is just one of the basic goods and foodstuffs that have been disappearing from store shelves over the past few months, as the government and private companies blame each other for the scarcity.

Venezuelan Minister of Commerce Alejandro Fleming announced the toilet paper measure on Tuesday, the state-run AVN news agency reported.

Repeating the government's stance, he blamed the media for provoking fear in consumers, who in turn begin hoarding items.

"There is no deficiency in production, but an excessive demand generating purchases by a nervous population because of a media campaign that has been created to undermine the country," Fleming said. "We are going to saturate the market so that our people will calm down and understand that they should not let themselves be manipulated by the media that says there are shortages."