January 19, 2013, was the first anniversary of the Castroit dictatorship's murder of human rights activist and dissident Wilman Villar Mendoza. How the Castroit dictatorship commemorated the anniversary of Wilman's murder?Video of activists brutally beaten in Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba
Atacada sede de UNPACU en Santiago de Cuba por turbas castristas - YouTubeVideo de activistas golpeados salvajemente en Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba. - YouTube
Totalitarian regimes have patterns of conduct. Beating up, arresting and imprisoning an innocent man for engaging in the nonviolent exercise of his fundamental human rights is a common practice in the Cuban regime. "Accidents" and sudden "illnesses" are also known to happen. Political prisoners are subjected to cruel and unusual punishment that amounts to torture.
Finally, when a prisoner or dissident dies and the Cuban government is responsible then the dictatorship engages in a campaign using both official propaganda outlets and agents of influence around the world to slander their memory and hold itself not responsible for their death. If necessary the dictatorship will manufacture "evidence" to makes its "case."
It is for that reason that human rights defenders and friends of freedom have an obligation to remember the truth and repeat it to others in order to defend the memory of men and women like Wilman Villar Mendoza who gave their lives in the cause of freedom.
If courageous men and women inside of Cuba suffer brutal beatings to nonviolently remember these martyrs to Cuban freedom then what is the excuse for those abroad to remain silent? Indifference before evil is not an excuse but a condemnation.
What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion
The Castroit regime has declare war against the Ladies in White. That is the reason for the disguise executions, the physical and psychological tortures, the kangaroo trials, and the massive prison systems.Valentine's Day in Cuba: State Security imprisons 63 women for honoring Laura Pollan
Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter: Valentine's Day in Cuba: State Security imprisons 63 women for honoring Laura Pollan
Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter
Ladies in White spokeswoman Berta Soler at the far right in the Cubre Terminal
Tonight, Angel Moya, a former prisoner of conscience and husband of Ladies in White spokeswoman Berta Soler tweeted: "63 Ladies in White arrested in 32 hours by DSE repressive forces, some Ladies in White were arrested several times." Valentine's Day in Cuba takes on its original meaning: the power of love resisting brutality and injustice in the worse of places.
Why did State Security engage in a crackdown against so many nonviolent women?
There are two fundamental reasons. First, they can get away with it. The international media has been mostly silent during this crackdown. They would prefer to report on who is able to obtain a passport and who is being denied one by the dictatorship as they pursue the Castro regime's spin trying to sale cosmetic changes as real reforms. Secondly, the dictatorship fears the power of these women exercising nonviolent resistance and they still fear its founder the martyred Laura Pollán.
February 13, 2013 was the 65th anniversary of Lady in White founder Laura Pollán's birth in Cuba. The Ladies in White are a non-violent human rights movement established in March of 2003 in the midst of a massive crackdown in which their loved ones were unjustly imprisoned for exercising their fundamental human rights. The first spokeswoman of the Ladies in White was Laura Pollán whose leadership forged a national movement that was also known and respected internationally. She died on October 14, 2011 following a mysterious illness and medical neglect.
The Ladies in White renamed themselves after Laura Pollán and have carried on defending human rights and calling for the release of all of Cuba's political prisoners. Its thanks to their courageous stand that Angel Moya is not in prison today. He was arrested on March 18, 2003 and condemned shortly afterwards in a summary show trial to 20 years in prison along with 74 others who faced stiff sentences of up to 28 years in prison. Thanks to the Ladies in White, not one of them is in prison today.
Yesterday, the Ladies in White gathered on Neptune Street in Havana, Cuba at what had been Laura Pollán's home when she was still alive to honor her and celebrate her life.
State Security mounted a huge operation detaining, beating and harassing the women trying to attend the gathering. At the end of the day when members of the Ladies in White sought to leave Havana and return to their home provinces they were rounded up. Among those detained was the new spokeswoman Berta Soler who spent the night with her compatriots in detention and Angel Moya.
She got home three hours ago, and her husband Angel Moya tweeted the news: "Berta is already at home, State Security threatens to open a case against her."
Still trying to get news about the remaining women who were unjustly detained for trying to pay their respects to a nonviolent martyr on her birthday and have spent St. Valentine's Day behind bars.
International Women Day in Castros’ gulag was brutal. A Cuban spring is needed to get rid of this savage regime.International Women's Day in Cuba: Update on Yris
Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter: International Women's Day in Cuba: Update on Yris
On International Women's Day 2013 in Cuba a woman is spitting up blood due to a beating administered to her by a male state security agent on the morning of March 7, 2013 for a nonviolent demonstration she had participated in. The attack was so brutal that they knocked her out and she had to be taken to a hospital. When she finally regained consciousness, regime agents kicked her out of the hospital. This was not the first time that she had been the object of such an attack by an official of the Cuban government. Her name is Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera and she is the president of the Rosa Parks Women's Movement for Civil Rights.
Today her condition worsened. She complained that she was losing vision in her left eye, vomiting (that included blood), dizziness and numbness in her cheek. It appears that the attention drawn to her plight in the social media generated a reaction and tonight she was picked up and finally taken to a hospital.
Unfortunately, that does not mean that she will be provided proper care. The case of Laura Pollán and the systematic medical neglect that she was subjected to contributed to her death.
Her husband, Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez", described Yris's condition and the situation over twitter today: At 3:29pm he reported that "she complains of losing vision in her left eye, vomiting, dizziness and numbness in her cheek." At 5:14pm he announced that "Right now they are moving my wife to the Santa Clara provincial hospital, they are taking her in an ambulance. Jorge Luis explained that the doctor who referred [her to the hospital], said that what "worries him is how high her arterial blood pressure is." At 5:19pm he tweeted "We are all very sad, Pray to God for my wife." The last tweet reported at 6:42pm that "the ambulance arrives with Yris at the pediatric hospital where they will perform a TAC on her." The tweets ended.
Librado Linares is reporting at 7:58 pm that Yris Perez has her trapezoids very swollen, vision loss, severe pains and a possible cervical fracture from the brutal beating. He is also reporting at 7:50pm that state security agents are blocking him from visiting the hospital. "Have clash with officials Misael & Lester trying to get to the hospital where they have Yris Perez. A car brushed past me."
Her life is still in danger. Vigilance and international solidarity is needed to save her life.
If this would had happened to a South African woman under the apartheid, the world opinion would be mobilized on her behalf. But in this specific case practically anybody show concern, which speaks volumes of their lack of it. This highlight a blatant political double standard.Cuban woman assaulted by State Security not improving
Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter: Cuban woman assaulted by State Security not improving
"It appears that the order to eliminate Yris has been given. Let us not permit this crime." -Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez" over twitter today
The news today on Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera is deeply worrying. Last night at the hospital she was once again expelled without obtaining proper medical care. Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez", her husband, tweeted at 9:49am, "First revolutionaries then doctors they told Yris last night expelling her from the hospital in Placetas." Apparently State Security had appeared at the hospital and obligated / threatened the doctors into asserting their revolutionary first credentials. He went on to add in a second tweet: "It appears that the order to eliminate Yris has been given. Let us not permit this crime."
Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera
Yris's condition is not improving. Antúnez tweeted at 2:32pm and 2:34pm: "My wife does not recover. We are very concerned."
The repression against the Ladies in White continuous unabated. State Security Agents continuous to harass and arrest them to prevent them from exercising their rights to pacifically assemble.Stoning against the Ladies in White, neighbors come out in their defense
Cuba: The Stoning of the Ladies in White | Babalú Blog
State organized mobs assault the Ladies in White
On the night of March 18th, the Cuban political police organized a mob of more than 200 people to attack a group of 50 Ladies in White in Palma Soriano who were holding their monthly meeting, dedicating it to the 10th anniversary of the Black Spring crackdown when 75 dissidents were arrested and sentenced to prison. These actions resulted in the hospitalization of one of the Ladies in White and the violent arrests of various neighbors who came out in their defense.
Belkis Cantillo, the representative of the Ladies in White in the province of Santiago de Cuba, was present and explained to this blog that the meeting took place without any incidents, but “at around 4 PM, when we were going to leave the house, we noticed that there were mobs on each corner. It was then that act of repudiation began“.
Cantillo estimated that there were about 200 people in the acts of repudiation, many of them drunkards, and all of them responding to the orders of the political police. Some of the agents who were at the forefront of the mobs were Edgar, Norberto, Yunier, Ernesto, Rodolfo and Agustin (the latter a chief of the Confrontation Unit in Santiago de Cuba), although the activist points out that these are just code names, seeing as the agents never use their actual names.
In addition, there were underage students in the mob. They were taken there by their teachers.
“The teachers would tell the kids to scream insults at us like ‘worms‘”, said Cantillo, “but the majority of the parents showed up, angry, and punished their children and took them away from there. They also confronted and protested against the teachers for taking them there without their authorization“.
The mobs remained outside of the home of Denia Hernandez and started to throw rocks against the walls, windows and roof. There were also underage children inside- 3,8,12, and 15 years old. The eldest being Martha Beatriz Ferrer, daughter of Belkis and leading dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia.
“These kids were terrorized. All they could hear were the rocks crashing against the walls. It felt like it was raining rocks, it wouldn’t come to an end“, recounts Belkis, “And the political police was just there, controlling those mobs, encouraging them“.
At one point, one of the rocks landed inside the house of a neighbor. Clearly bothered, he came out to defend the women. He wasn’t the only one.
“This man came out to defend us. He told the police officers to stop the violence“, said the Lady in White, “and many other people came out to defend us- both men and women. In fact, there were 6 women (neighbors) who stood up for us. They started to shout at the mobs, asking why they were throwing rocks at us because we were only defending our rights”.
The result of the displays of solidarity was the beating and arrest of the 6 women at the hands of the political police. Each of them were taken away to an undisclosed location. Two of them were identified on Jose Daniel Ferrer’s Twitter account (@jdanielferrer) as Jessica Hernández and Maricela Chea.
Meanwhile, the Lady in White Miraida Martin was physically assaulted by the mobs when she stepped out of the house. The aggression was so intense that she had to be urgently rushed to the clinic of Palma Soriano, where they had to give her oxygen, according to another tweet by Ferrer Garcia, which also detailed that she was in “a very delicate state of health“.
The home of Denia Hernandez remained under police vigilance long after the mobs began to disperse at around 9 PM. It remained that way all night long.
Belkis Cantillo said that despite the fact that they were very violent moments, the Ladies in White were not afraid, although they are “very worried about the women who defended us and were assaulted. They are still detained and were very beat, being held in an undisclosed location“.
Her husband and leader of UNPACU, Jose Daniel Ferrer, added on Twitter that the 6 women demonstrated a high level of bravery and expressed that “when everyone who desires a better future does the same as Jessica, Maricela, and the rest of the neighbors, the abuses, the hunger, and the misery will come to an end”
From the day of the crackdown 10 years ago, known as Cuba’s Black Spring, the pacific struggle of the Lades in White became the symbol of Cuban resistance for freedom and dignity.Eight years late, Cuba’s Ladies in White pick up Sakharov prize in Brussels
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/23/3360730/eight-years-late-cubas-ladies.html
By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
Cuba’s Ladies in White finally received their Sakharov prize Tuesday, in a ceremony delayed by Havana for eight years but described by the head of the European Parliament as proof that “no dictatorship in the world can stop democracy.”
“Our dignity is much bigger than the hatred of those who repress us,” Laura Labrada, daughter of the group’s late founder Laura Pollán, declared during the emotional session at the parliament’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
The Ladies in White were awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2005, but Cuban authorities did not allow them to travel to Brussels to pick it up. A change in Cuban travel rules in January meant they could finally travel to Europe.
Labrada, Ladies in White leader Berta Soler and member Belkis Cantillo walked onto the parliament floor dressed in the group’s traditional white clothing and with their right hands high in the air made the “L” of liberty with thumbs and index fingers.
Blanca Reyes, who represents the women’s group in Spain and picked up the 50,000-euro (now $65,000) prize money in 2005, also attended the European Parliament’s session, which was broadcast live by Radio and TV Marti.
Soler told a news conference before the ceremony that the European Union must keep up its tough policy on Cuba and maintain its “Common Position,” which ties any improvement in EU policies toward the island to Havana’s human rights record.
Although President Raúl Castro has launched some reforms, Cuba “lamentably continues to be the only Latin American country that does not tolerate any type of democratic opposition,” Parliament President Martin Schulz declared.
Pollán founded the Ladies in White for the wives, mothers, daughters and other female relatives of a group of 75 peaceful dissidents sentenced to long prison terms during a crackdown in 2003 known as Cuba’s Black Spring. Their marches after Sunday masses at the Santa Rita church in Havana became the only public protest regularly tolerated by the communist government.
The last of the 75 dissidents was freed from prison in 2011, the same year that Pollán died, and all but about a dozen left for Spain. But the remaining women, plus dozens of new “support ladies,” are now active in virtually every major city on the island.
Cantillo’s husband, Jose Daniel Ferrer, was freed in 2011 and went on to found the Cuban Patriotic Union, now one of the most active dissident groups in Cuba. He launched a hunger strike last week to demand the release of about 30 jailed supporters.
Soler accepted the Sakharov prize, named after a famous Soviet dissident, before calling for a minute of silence to honor Pollán and Oswaldo Payá, who won the 2003 version of the prize and was killed in a car crash last year.
Cuba allowed Payá to pick up his prize but then cracked down on travel abroad by dissidents. Guillermo Fariñas, winner of the 2010 prize, was also blocked from picking up his award that year but is expected to do so in the next few months.
Schulz noted the delay of eight years in the women’s trip to Brussels but said it “showed the valor you have displayed in your work, and that no dictatorship in the world can stop democracy.”
He praised the group as “the symbol of the Cubans’ resistance against the Cuban government” and pointed to reports by human rights activists that the number of arbitrary arrests for political reasons climbed to a record 6,602 last year.
“If the governing cupola believes it has the full backing of the people, if they really believe what they say in public, then they would not need those kinds of numbers,” Schulz added.
Labrada dismissed the Raúl Castro reforms as “insignificant little changes” and said the gladiolas the Ladies in White carry in their marches are “a symbol of the spring that is approaching our homeland.”
While the news media was reporting the latest "reforms" being implemented by Raul Castro, Reina Luisa Tamayo and 40 other dissidents were getting brutally beaten in the town of Banes, Holguin (Oriente) province. They were being stoned and rounded up like cattle.Banes was the birthplace of Fulgencio Batista, located about 20 miles north from the small town of Biran. Fidel Castro birthplace.
Berta Soler has lead a group of courageous women in Cuba, the Ladies in White, which face beatings and imprisonment in their peaceful quest for the release of political prisoners and respect of human rights.Lady in White
Political Diary: Lady in White - WSJ
By Mary O’Grady
Berta Soler leader of the dissident group Ladies in White
In the debate about whether the U.S. should end what is left of the embargo it has imposed against Cuba for the last half century, the side that wants to lift it often invokes the names of dissidents on the island who agree. But there are also Cuban dissidents who support the embargo because they fear that ending it would strengthen the dictatorship.
One of the most prominent supporters of the embargo was in Washington last week. She is Berta Soler, wife of former political prisoner Angel Moya and a member of the prestigious Ladies in White. Ms. Soler's visit drew attention because what she lacks in support from Washington politicians and lobbyists who want to do business with the dictator she makes up for in moral authority.
Ms. Soler's movement began in 2003 with a handful of women. Each Sunday they attended Mass together at St. Rita's church and then, each carrying a single flower, they walked silently in the streets of Havana to demand the release of their husbands, brothers and sons who were political prisoners. It seemed like a suicide mission. For decades Cuban dissidents have met grisly ends. Many have been murdered, many more have been tortured in prison until they were broken.
Nevertheless the women were able to hold their ground thanks in part to the international recognition they got and the embarrassment they caused the regime. In 2005 they were awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov prize for freedom of thought, though they were denied permission to pick it up. When supporters wielding cell phones took photographs of pro-Castro mobs assaulting the women, the pictures went around the world, further revealing just how nasty and brutish life is in the revolutionary paradise.
In January the regime partially lifted its ban on Cubans traveling outside the island, and earlier this month Ms. Soler was finally given permission to travel with others from the group to Brussels to pick up their Sakharov prize. Then she headed to the U.S.
Last week in a meeting with Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) Ms. Soler explained how important international support is to the cause of liberty in Cuba. "I am looking for moral and spiritual support from governments that love liberty, lovers of peace and from the international community," she said. "The government of Cuba sells an image to foreigners and I bring the true history of my people, because I am a woman who has suffered day after day abuses, beatings only for having expressed myself."
During her visit to Washington, Ms. Soler also alluded to the regime's specious claims that the embargo is what makes Cuba poor: "First, I want to say that the embargo, the blockade, is inside Cuba." As to the U.S. position, she said, "I respect the opinions of everyone in the world, but mine [and] that of the Ladies in White is don't lift the embargo."
The Castroit regime is blast by Amnesty International in the report. The report only makes reference to five dissidents as “prisoners of conscience”, but the actual number is much higher based in eye witnessed accounts. Nevertheless it tear apart the mask from the claims of reform made by the Castroit regime.Cuba: Release five prisoners of conscience immediately
Cuba: Release five prisoners of conscience immediately | Amnesty International
Amnesty International
The Cuban authorities must immediately and unconditionally release five men who have been named prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International.
The cases of the five men – Rafael Matos Montes de Oca, Emilio Planas Robert and the brothers Alexeis, Diango, and Vianco Vargas Martín – are indicative of the continuing repression of freedom of expression on the island, the organization said.
“These five cases are only the tip of the iceberg for Cuba’s repression of free speech,” said Javier Zúñiga, Special Advisor for Amnesty International.
“The only progress made by the Cuban government has been the reform of the Migration Law earlier this year. It allowed many people including human rights defenders and government critics to travel abroad. Much more needs to be done to guarantee civil and political liberties in the country.”
Emilio Planas Robert and Rafael Matos Montes de Oca Both have both been found guilty of peligrosidad (dangerousness, or “special proclivity to commit crimes”) and sentenced to medidas de seguridad predelictivas (“security measures”), even though no evidence was presented against them in court.
“The use of this particular legislation, which allows the government to jail its citizens on the slightest evidence because it believes they may commit a crime in the future, is a flagrant violation of international standards and must be immediately repealed,” said Javier Zúñiga.
“This Orwellian law is being used as a pretext to jail government critics,” he added.
Amnesty International believes the conviction is politically motivated, as both men are members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unión Patriótica de Cuba, UNPACU), a civil society organization which advocates for greater civil liberties on the island.
Alexeis Vargas Martín and his 17-year-old twin brothers, Diango and Vianco Vargas Martín – all members of UNPACU – have been accused by the police of using violence or intimidation against a state official (atentado). They have not been formally charged and their lawyer has not been granted access to their case-files. They are being held at different prisons in Santiago de Cuba province.
“Repression of independent journalists, opposition leaders and human rights activists increased last year in Cuba, and show no sign of abating,” Javier Zúñiga added.
“In recent months, we have received scores of reports of people who were arbitrarily arrested and even imprisoned on ludicrous charges that violate international standards.”
By the end of June this year, 2,143 people are reported to have been subject to short-term arrests in Cuba.
There were reports of an average of 400 short-term arrests each month during 2012 and activists travelling from the provinces to Havana were frequently detained. The independent Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported 6,602 detentions of government critics last year, compared to 4,123 in 2011 and 2,074 in 2010.
Background
Cuban investigative journalist Calixto Martínez was freed on 9 April 2013 after Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience in January. He was held for almost seven months in prison but was never formally charged with any crime.
Emilio Planas Robert and Rafael Matos Montes de Oca were arrested in the eastern city of Guantánamo on 23 and 27 September last year respectively, after posters with anti-government slogans appeared around the city.
Alexeis Vargas Martín was arrested on 27 November 2012 in the city of Santiago de Cuba, as he tried to return to his home. His mother who is a member of the opposition organization Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) was throwing a birthday celebration. Pro-government protestors were demonstrating outside the house and had blocked the road.
His brothers, Diango and Vianco Vargas Martín, were arrested on 2 December, as they protested their brother’s detention in front of a police station.
The Ladies in White, courageous human rights group, that were marching peacefully in support of their imprisoned family members, the Castroit tyrannical regime reacted with violence, using violent mobs, guided by the State Security Agents, that brutally attack these defenseless women, subjecting them to beating and injecting some of them with hypodermic needles containing with much probability toxic substances.More beatings arrests repudiation and injections against Ladies in White in Matanzas
More beatings, arrests, repudiation and injections against Ladies in White in Matanzas | Pedazos de la Isla
Posted by Pedazos de la Isla
After four weekends of unmeasurable violence against the Ladies in White and other dissidents in the cities of Cardenas and Colon in the province of Matanzas, Berta Soler – leader of the Ladies in White – traveled to Cardenas this Sunday, August 11th, to march together with the women being repressed, demanding freedom for all political prisoners. The result was the fifth weekend of violence.
11 women managed to march and assist Mass at The Parish of Cardenas. When the religious service came to an end, the Ladies left the temple in a march back home.
Leticia Ramos Herrería, representative of the women’s group for the province of Matanzas, said that a State Security official intercepted them and told them that they could not continue walking, all while the same mobs as always – organized by the regime – surrounded the women.
“We remained in silence while the mobs shouted insults at us“, said Ramos Herreria, “then, the official told me that we were going to be arrested but without being beat. It was all the contrary“.
Ramos recounts that all the women were beat and thrown inside police vehicles, among them Berta Soler and Maria Cristina Labrada, from Havana. Some were taken to the National Revolutionary Police unit while others were left out in the Port of Cardenas.
Leticia explains that although she was also beat, in this case she was not the worst off. “I want to shed light on the situation of Mercedes de la Caridad la Guardia who the agents, in addition to being beat, threw paint on her, later detained her in the PNR unit and then abandoned her 40 kilometers away from the city. She was grabbed by the arm by PNR agent Yordan (badge #33500) and agent Yudy (the same woman who has beat us during past weekends and who threatened to shoot me in the forehead recently). They punched her on her neck, face, abdomen, etc“.
Another worrying case was that of Elizabeth Pacheco Lama, a 23 year old Lady in White. At the time of her arrest she was “injected on the head with different needles. They dragged her, beat her, and even destroyed her shoes“, said Leticia.
Despite the State-sponsored violence, Leticia Ramos considers that one of the most significant factors that day was the fact that a number of everyday people showed solidarity with the persecuted women and, because of this, they also suffered violence at the hands of the police.
“I want to thank many of the people of Cardenas who protected us. The police pushed many of them against a wall, they beat them and many of them were shoved into police cars“, said the Matanzas dissident.
Meanwhile, in the city of Colon the violence was similar. Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, former political prisoner and independent unionist, used his Twitter account (@ivanlibre) to detail that he was arrested upon stepping out of his home in the morning.
“After the violent arrest, dragging me threw the street and pushing me into a police vehicle, they abandoned me out on kilometer 170 on the national highway”, wrote the renown dissident.
Ivan’s mother, Asuncion Carillo Hernandez (an elderly lady) was also arrested and they “left her out 1 kilometer after the exit of Colon, en route to San Jose”.
Ivan also tweeted about the case of Lady in White Maritza Perdomo, another woman who was harassed and arrested, kept in an unknown location for a while.
Hernandez Carrillo added that the police officials handcuffed him and twisted his arms back to the point that they cut his circulation in order to impede him from making the “L” shape with his hands (‘L’ for “Libertad”, Spanish for “Freedom”, a sign commonly used by Cuba’s opposition).
Renown dissident and former political prisoner of conscience Angel Moya Acosta was also arrested that Sunday, among other human rights activists.
9 Ladies in White were able to make it to Mass in Colon, despite that many of them were later arrested and repressed.
Dissident Lazaro Diaz Sanchez published a photo on his Twitter account (@LazaroDiazSanch) of an injury he sustained after physical attacks by the political police approximately 3 weeks ago:
We blame the political police, the Castro brothers and their dictatorship for anything that may happen to Elizabeth Pacheco Lama, who was injected on the head. She also has chunks of hair missing because they pulled it, her legs are scratched and she took many physical blows“, expressed Leticia Ramos, “We hold the dictatorship accountable for her physical integrity as well as that of all Ladies in White in Matanzas, and all of Cuba“.
Raul Castro II, BS talk about civility in Cuba. Under the Castroit tyrannical regime there is no civility. There is no freedom of speak and association, impartial elections, the dissidents are persecuted and in the words cases eliminated, people live in fear of the regime. The educational and healthcare systems are in shambles. At only 90 miles from the US apartheid still exist in Cuba under the Castroit monarchical regime.Raul Castro’s empty talk on civility in Cuba
Raul Castro
By Editorial Board
PRESIDENT RAÚL Castro of Cuba delivered a speech to the National Assembly last month in which he lamented the demise of Cuban culture and civility. He railed against bad behavior, from building houses without permits to shouting and swearing in the streets, from dodging bus fares to painting grafitti. “Living in society entails, in the first place, accepting rules that preserve respect for decency and the rights of others,” he declared.
The rights of others? Civility? Seven days after Mr. Castro spoke these words, the civil society group Ladies in White went on a march for freedom and human rights in Matanzas province. They’ve done this before, on other Sundays, in other towns. A group of Cuban government supporters forcefully cut off the march and proceeded to beat and harass the members of the group, which was founded by the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of 75 political prisoners who were jailed in a crackdown a decade ago. The attack was just the latest harassement and intimidation of Cuban dissidents.
The kind of civility that is recognized all over the world as basic dignity — the freedom to speak and associate, to choose one’s leaders, to live without fearing a regime’s security services — is not on Mr. Castro’s mind. His regime continues to threaten and persecute those who dare challenge its legitimacy.
One of the most passionate dissidents in Cuba until his death last year was Oswaldo Payá, champion of a campaign to advance democracy with a national referendum. On July 22, 2012, he died in a car wreck along with Harold Cepero, the leader of the youth wing of Mr. Payá’s Christian Liberation Movement. The driver of the car in which they were riding was Ángel Carromero, a young Spanish politician who was visiting Cuba. Mr. Carromero told us in March that the car was rammed from behind by a vehicle which carried government license plates, after which he lost control of the vehicle.
Mr. Carromero has now raised fresh questions about the car wreck in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, suggesting that Mr. Payáand Mr. Cepero may have been alive when they were brought to a local hospital and only died later, perhaps at the hands of a state that did not wish them well. He has no hard evidence, but suspicions linger. The family of Mr. Payáwas never given an autopsy report.
The most significant unanswered questions are: Who rammed the car on a wide and flat road that day? And why? Mr. Carromero’s latest comments reinforce the need for a thorough investigation. We were heartened to see that the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, last week raised with the Cuban foreign minister the need for a credible investigation into Mr. Payá’s death. A similar demand came from the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). Perhaps it is too much to suggest that Mr. Castro might allow a genuine investigation into these tragic deaths, no matter where it leads. That would be truly civil.
Being a black dissident under the Castroit tyrannical regime has always been very dangerous. When black Cubans speak out against the regime, upsets the masters of the slave plantation. They're supposed to be extremely grateful to Castro II, and if they disagree with Castro II policies, they're going to get extra punishment.Another Sunday of repression in Cuba
Uncommon Sense: Another Sunday of repression in Cuba
Marc Masferrer
Every Sunday in Cuba, especially in Matanzas province, it's like Groundhog Day.
For the past 10 Sundays, Cuban Ladies In White and other peaceful activists have taken to the streets of Colon and other cities in the province. And for the past 10 Sundays, the Castro regime has unleashed its secret police and other goons to attack the activists with beatings, arrests and other repression.
Today, the 11th Sunday, was no different, as the stories and tweets compiled below reveal.
If you don't want to read all the tweets or if your Spanish is not up to snuff, just look at this, a photo of former prisoner of conscience Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, who has been arrested numerous times during the ongoing wave of repression. Via Twitter, Hernandez said his arrest today was the most violent yet, that he is sore all over his body, not just in his swollen lips.
His is the face of the Cuban resistance.
Ivan Herandez Carrillo on Sunday after his beating and arrest by the Castro police. (Via Twitter @felixncuba via @mspianoteacher).
The way to bring an end to the Castroit regime is by the different dissidents groups to work together. Let not forget that the regime that came into power by way of violence could lots power by way of violence too. When the regimen thugs would be push back by a street demonstration of the people, the end will come quickly.Shifting tactics dissidents help average Cubans
Cubafaq: Shifting tactics, dissidents help average Cubans
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM
When about 200 owners of horse-drawn carts in the Cuban city of Santa Clara gathered recently outside a government office to protest their stiff taxes, dissident Guillermo Fariñas and a dozen other democracy activists stood with them.
The cocheros, who transport people and cargo, broke up peacefully after their protest on Sept. 11. Fariñas, winner of a top European prize for human rights, and the other dissidents were carted away by police, and freed later that day.
More than a simple protest, the event reflected a new strategy for Cuba’s dissidents, learned in part from Poland’s Solidarity labor union in the waning years of that country’s communist rule: If you want to win more popular support, tone down the push for a political opening and back the common people in their demands for economic and social change.
Opposition groups say they are now offering medical help and transportation for the ill, food and laundry for the elderly, education and entertainment for children and vocal support for squatters and illegal street vendors harassed by government inspectors.
“The idea is to do things so that the people can perceive us as their defenders,” Fariñas said. “We’re going to relegate the political demands because we need more popular support before we can really push them.”
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The Democrat Senator from New Jersey Robert Menendez), issued the following statement about Berta Soler’s meeting with Vice President Biden:Biden receives Ladies in White leader in White House
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/25/3711782/biden-receives-ladies-in-white.html
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM
The leader of Cuba’s dissident Ladies in White, Berta Soler, met with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in the White House Friday in an Obama administration recognition of the dissident movement on the island.
Bertha Soler meets with Vice President Joe Biden Friday at the White House to discuss the human rights situation in Cuba. OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
“It was surprising, and very important, that the White house has opened its doors to Cuban dissidents to listen to the message we bring — and the (requests for) support we seek from all of them for the liberation of my country,” Soler said.
She also asked Biden to ensure that when dealing with Havana, the U.S. government maintain its insistence on respect for human rights and protection for democracy activists on the island, Soler told El Nuevo Herald.
Washington also should be more skeptical of Raúl Castro’s economic reforms, she added, saying that few changes in fact have been put in place and that Havana is trying to project a positive image so it can receive international loans.
Soler said her message was ‘well received” by Biden during their 20-minute meeting. She was accompanied by Jorge Mas Santos, president of the Cuban American National Foundation.
“This is a great opportunity, a historic opportunity, a recognition of the courage not only of Berta and the Ladies in White but of all the men and women who confront the regime each day,” Mas Santos told Radio/TV Martí after the meeting.
The women’s group, winner of the European Parliament Sakharov prize for Freedom of Conscience in 2005, was founded by the wives, daughters and mothers of 75 dissidents jailed in a 2003 crackdown. The last of the prisoners were freed in 2011, but the women have continued their marches after Mass Sundays to demand human rights and democracy.
Soler was received after Biden by Ricardo Zuniga, who first met her when he was a human rights officer at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana in the early 2000s. He later headed the Cuba desk at the State Department and now heads the Latin America desk at the White House’s National Security Council.
The 49-year-old medical lab technician said that during both meetings she put special emphasis on the case of Sonia Garro, a Ladies in White member who has been jailed for more than a year. Prosecutors preparing for her trial next week have asked for a 10-year sentence for the attempted murder of one of the policemen who raided her home, she added.
Soler was scheduled to fly to Miami Friday night but then return to Washington on Sunday to continue her rounds of meetings and public appearances.
She met Thursday with U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, who later said she shared Soler’s concerns “with the continued repression of the peaceful activities carried out by the Ladies in White and other independent groups of civil society.”
Next week Soler will appear before the Inter American Commission on Human Rights, a part of the Organization of American States, in Washington and with Sen. Bob Menendez, a Cuban-American Democrat from New Jersey.
“Vice President Biden’s meeting with Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, is a truly historic act of support for human rights defenders in Cuba. Through their acts of peaceful protest, Berta and the Ladies in White have remained an unwavering beacon of hope for the restoration of justice, human rights and democracy in Cuba. I commend Vice President Biden for standing with Berta Soler and the Ladies in White, and I look forward to my meeting with her in Washington next week.” Very well Said by Senator Menendez.
The Cuban rapper Remon Yunier nickname “El Critico (The Critic)” was throng in jailed in March 2013 for his rap lyrics of protest against the Castroit regime, the same thing that Jay-Z does in his rap lyrics.Wife Of Dying Cuban Rapper On Hunger Strike Calls On U.S. Artists For Support
Wife Of Dying Cuban Rapper On Hunger Strike Calls On U.S. Artists For Support | Fox News Latino
The wife of a jailed Cuban rapper known for his vocal opposition to the Castro regime is calling on America’s music industry to stand by her husband, who is on the brink of death after 24 days on a hunger strike.
Angel Yunier Remon Arzuaga, 30, nicknamed “El Critico” (The Critic) was arrested on March 26, 2013.
His crime? His music.
Seven months later, Remon Arzuaga was sentenced to eight years in prison without a trial charged with “resistance” against the communist regime. That same day, October 15, the rebel rapper started a hunger strike protesting the charges and in the hopes of getting a fair trial.
Now the once vocalist of “Los Hijos Que Nadie Quiso” (“The Children Nobody Wanted”) is in critical condition in a Bayamo military hospital, east of the island. He was admitted on October 28th.
Yudisbel Roseyo, Remon’s wife and mother to their nine-month old son, told Fox News Latino her husband has low blood pressure and leg cramps, and that doctors said he is on the verge of falling into a coma.
“He is not going to eat,” she said. “They have to make a decision, it’s freedom or death. If he dies, we both will blame the Castro brothers and the Cuban government.”
Roseyo, a member of the Ladies in White activist group, said her husband is thankful for the support, but called on more pressure from other artists to speak out against her husband’s unjust imprisonment over his lyrics and political views. Over the past few years, hunger strikes have become an anti-establishment tactic that has been used frequently in Cuba, above all after cases like that of Guillermo Fariñas, a well known Cuban dissident who holds the record with more than 24 hunger strikes.
"My message to America's singers [is] please use your voices, and help save my husband’s life," said Roseyo to Fox News Latino. "I would be grateful a million times over, and thankful if they could stand by us and ask the Cuban government for his freedom."
The hashtag #FreeElCritico has been launched on Twitter in solidarity of the jailed rapper. Thus far, Cuban American singers Gloria Estefan and Albita Rodriguez have tweeted out their support. But some, noting the power of international support, are calling on more mainstream artists to throw their celebrity weight behind the effort to bring justice to one of their own. On Wednesday, the New York Post called out rapper Jay Z for pumping money into the coffers of the communist regime while on a visit to Cuba in May with his wife Beyonce and yet choosing to say nothing about the imprisoned local Cuban rapper.
“He went to Cuba and supported the regime, and visits like it’s a free country, but why not support other rappers?” said Betsy Gonzalez, a 40-year-old human rights activist for the freedom of Cuba. Gonzalez helped organize a rally for “El Critico” at the popular Cuban restaurant Versailles in Miami on Friday evening.
Consistently targeted for his anti-regime message, Remon Arzuaga had been detained a series of times, days before his arrest, for handing out pro-freedom flyers in Bayamo. He was let go but according to Roseyo on March 26th the Cuban regime organized mobs to shout insults and threaten his family at his home. Undeterred, Remon Arzuaga, a member of pro-freedom activist group the Patriotic Union of Cuba stepped outside of his home and called on the people in the street to join the opposition against the government.
Marta Beatriz Roque, an economist and founder of the Cuban Institute of Independent Economists, is a leading Cuban dissident that has a long history of working for human rights and Cuba’s freedom. She was one of the authors of the document “The Homeland Belongs to All”, which caused her to spent 19 months in prison. Martha Beatriz was condemned to 20 years in prison for exercising her right to free speech and promotes the wellbeing of the Cuban people.Marta Beatriz Roque, Injured by State Security
Marta Beatriz Roque, Injured by State Security / Lilianne Ruiz | Translating Cuba
By Lillianne Ruiz
On Tuesday we learned of the beating of Marta Beatriz. They didn’t just beat her, they also dragged her up the stairs, 31 steps, beating her neck and whole body. I did not ask Marta’s age but she is an older woman, perhaps older than 60. She was the only woman in the group of 75 (from the Black Spring of 2003), imprisoned for her activism and for publishing her opinions against the regime.
She, a group of activists and friends, had been standing in front of the Zanja police station to protest the harassment she suffers from some of her neighbors.
That morning Marta had refused to let her house be fumigated with smoke and oil, an invasion on the pretext of doing away with the mosquito that carried dengue fever. There are other methods of fumigation, which here they call “special” that also eliminate the larva and the mosquitoes, but that was not available and the smoke was spreading into the house through the slats of the blinds, and the smoke is toxic for people with asthma and any respiratory problems, like her.
I can’t stand even the noise these smoke machines make and also that any stranger can come into our rooms. Sometimes they must enter our houses along, because if the smoke injures us they assume we have to leave for them to fumigate, and trust they won’t touch any of our personal things.
To me, it seems like a form of violation of our spaces. On the other hand, the city is full of trash dumps and potential breeding grounds for mosquito larva, huge deposits of stinking water. But our houses are preferred by the State.
Marta had spent the whole night in front of the police station, protesting. At 7 in the morning a police car stopped in front of her she was taken by force by two of those rude women who join the Ministry of the Interior — it’s sad to see what they turn into because of their envy and hatred, attacking without scruples any enemy o the government.If the order was to kill they would kill. It seems they have no conscience.
They are the result of ideological propaganda and the zone of ignorance fed to them by the free education of the State. Later you see them coveting any trinket, proudly receiving some jewelry, probably the fruit of Customs forfeitures, as a reward for their cruelty.
The two MININT women were beating Marta the whole way, stopping at the entrance to the building where she lives, on Belascoain, and dragging her out of the car. They continued dragging her up the stairs without allowing her to stand up, the 31 steps to the door of her house.
Since then her home has been under siege by the police. The second day didn’t let her 17-year-old nephew come up to bring her juice. The two activists with her happened to be in the house because they went there to make coffee to take to the Station, and were surprised to see Marta beaten, swollen and bruised, with the veins of her arms and legs on the point of splitting from so much trauma. They won’t let them see her, which seems to be the point of the siege at the house; perhaps they are waiting for the bruises to fade.
But Marta Beatriz hasn’t been able to be seen by a doctor. She is taking anti-inflammatory pills that have begun to damage her stomach. Yesterday they were arresting all those who came to visit.
The friendlier the Europeans and Americans become to the Castroit regime, the more intense its repression becomes. The Castroit regime has increased its intolerance towards its opponents from one end of the country to the other.The Political Police Intensify the State of Siege Against Martha Beatriz Roque
The Political Police Intensify the State of Siege Against Martha Beatriz Roque | Translating Cuba
Cubanet, Habana
The siege situation against political opposition leader Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello has reached extreme tension. Today her apartment continues cordoned off by the State Security (political police) and supposed neighbors insult her through a megaphone, calling her “traitor” among other affronts.
In a telephone conversation with this Paper, the pro-Human Rights activist and former prisoner of the so-called Group of 73, exhibited an alarming state of nerves. They do not let her move from there and they do not let anyone pass to visit her. On her door they have placed a photo of Fidel Castro and another with the five Cuban government spies who form part of the Castro campaign.
Neighbors who visited her yesterday at 6 in the afternoon told her that they could not permit counterrevolutionaries to go to her house because that damages the elderly and children.
Martha Beatriz wants to pursue a legal claim on the grounds that what they are doing is unconstitutional. A lawyer has already interviewed her.
In the midst of her desperation, she has asked that if they do not leave her in peace, they should return her to jail, since, she says, she is a prisoner in her own home.
Today eleven members of the Cuban Community Communicators Network, an independent press agency that she organizes, were arrested. These reporters were trying to get to her house. Of the eleven arrested, six were taken to the Guanabacoa township and released. Of the other five nothing is known.
It also transpired that the political opposition leader Arnaldo Ramos Lazurique, recently arrested when he visited Roque Cabello, was freed at the Dragones police station.
What they are doing now to Martha Beatriz brings to mind the sad episodes that occurred in Cuba in 1980, when citizens who were leaving the country forever were persecuted, beaten, stoned, humiliated openly in public and their houses were besieged.
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