posted April 16, 2008 02:18 PM            

Yes, Dan Blather is a Castro supporter who has worked in Castro productions before.

Not to be forgotten is the fact Fidel Castro, the Socialist bast@rd who lied through his teeth to his fellow revolutionaries about the direction he would take Cuba; destroyed one of the most dynamic economies in the world. But, that's just par for the course with Socialist bast@rds.

Cuba's Useful Idiot
By Humberto Fontova
FrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Last month Dan Rather’s new gig as host of HDNET's “Dan Rather Reports” found him, as so often during his CBS days, “reporting” from Cuba. From Dan we heard of “dramatic changes” down there, of a “remarkable transformation.” “The door (to the U.S.) is open, “explained Dan. “The best time to talk is now.”

Dan was chanting a familiar tune, one we've heard almost nonstop from the MSM's pet “Cuba Experts'” for the past 21 months.

As usual when dealing with Cuban matters, a sober look behind the carefully constructed and dutifully reported Castroite facade, shatters almost everything coming over the Mainstream Media's mics, cameras and wires. The Heritage Foundation, for instance, in its recently published Index of Economic Freedom, ranks Cuba as more economically repressive this year than before Castro's “resignation.” Under Raul Castro's nominal rule, Cuba slipped down 1.1 notches to number 155 -- where it ranks almost neck to neck with North Korea.

With Dan Rather, however, recent history shows that simple ignorance of Castroite practices wont cut it as an alibi.

Recall the Elian Gonzalez tragedy and Dan Rather's 60 Minutes interview with Elian's father, Juan Miguel. America saw an innocent, bewildered and heartsick father simply pleading to be allowed to have his motherless son accompany him back to Cuba, his cherished homeland. How could anyone oppose this? How could simple decency and common sense possibly allow for anything else?

Well, ask those wicked Miami Cubans. Their political showboating was thwarting the desperate father every step of the way, for motives to shame Ebeneezer Scrooge, Benito Mussolini, Judas Iscariot and Bruno Hauptmann (the Lindberg child kidnapper.)

"Did you cry?" the pained and frowning Dan Rather asked the "bereaved" father during the 60 Minutes drama.

"A father never runs out of tears," Juan (actually, the voice of Juan's drama school-trained translator) sniffled back to Dan. And the "60 Minutes" prime-time audience could hardly contain their own sniffles. Polls at the time showed that 70% of the American public took Juan Miguel's pleas (as transmitted by Dan Rather) to heart and sided with his wishes for Elian's return to Stalinist Cuba.

Here's what America didn't see:

"Juan Miguel Gonzalez was surrounded by Castro Security men the entire time he was in the studio with Rather.” This is an eye-witness account from Pedro Porro, who served as Dan Rather's translator during the famous interview. Dan Rather would ask the question in English into Porro's earpiece whereupon Porro would translate it into Spanish for Elian's heavily-guarded father.

“Juan Miguel was never completely alone," says Porro. "He never smiled. His eyes kept shifting back and forth. It was obvious to me that he was under heavy coercion. I probably should have walked out. But I'd been hired by CBS in good faith and I didn't know exactly how the interview would be edited -- how it would come across on the screen.”

"The questions Dan Rather was asking Elian's father during that 60 Minutes interview were being handed to him by attorney Gregory Craig,” continues Pedro Porro. Clinton crony Gregory Craig, you might recall, flush from his fame getting Bill Clinton off the Lewinsky rap, was at the time acting as Juan Miguel's (read Fidel Castro’s) attorney.

"It was obvious that Craig and Rather where on very friendly terms," says Porro. "They were joshing and bantering back and forth, as Juan Miguel sat there petrified. Craig was stage managing the whole thing -- almost like a movie director. The taping would stop and he'd walk over to Dan, hand him a little slip of paper, say something into his ear. Then Rather would read the next question into my earpiece straight from the paper.”

Midway through watching that "60 Minutes" broadcast, "I felt like throwing up," said Porro. "My stomach was in a knot." His worst fears were confirmed.

The Craig/Rather "60 Minutes" soap opera was a major hit. As polls showed, America ate it up. Craig, after all, had come to Castro highly recommended. And he performed magnificently, employing a major media outlet as aides, props and publicists for Castro's case. Fidel Castro, of course, is an old pro at this. To cap it all, at that time Craig worked for the law firm Williams & Connolly -- that also represented CBS. Gregory Craig now serves as the Obama campaign's chief advisor on Latin America.

Some of the sources featured on Rather's recent HDNET program also merit closer scrutiny. Throughout his program denouncing (however subtly) the U.S. “embargo” of Cuba and touting her dramatic “opening,” Rather interviews Phil Peters, described as a "former Reagan-Bush State dept official." (See!? See!? He's no Castro-loving pinko!) and as Vice President of the Washington D.C. based Lexington Institute, a free-market think tank (See?! See!? Again!)

Much as during the Elian episode, America (actually, the minuscule portion that views Hdnet) might have benefited from a “behind the scenes” view of Dan's source, Phil Peters, who serves as a “consultant” to a Canadian Corporation named Sherrit International. This Canada-based mining company derives much of its profits from criminal activities. Applying legal standards recognized from the code of Hammurabi to even Janet Reno's Justice Department, Sherrit qualifies as a trafficker in stolen property and an accessory to theft.

In a joint venture with Cuba's Stalinist regime, Sherrit occupies and operates the Moa nickel mining plant in Cuba's Oriente province, stolen at Soviet gunpoint from its U.S. managers and stockholders in July 1960 (when it was worth $90 million) by Castro gunmen. Here's a legal memo uncovered as part of a recent court case discovery by intrepid bloggers at Babalu Blog, and posted on their site:

From Robert L. Muse:

"Canada's Sherritt works quietly in Washington...recently it has given money to a former State Department employee, Phil Peters, to advance its interests. The money to Peters goes through contributions to the Lexington Institute, where Peters is a Vice-President. Because the Lexington Institute is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, there is no public record of Sherritt’s funding. This has allowed Peters to advise and direct the Cuba Working Group (a Congressional anti-embargo cabal) in ways beneficial to Sherritt while presenting himself to the Group as an objective think-tank scholar with a specialization in Cuba."

But Sherritt's criminality hardly stops there. Sherritt's workers are chosen and assigned by the Cuban regime who sets their wages and dictates the payment schedule. After Sherritt pays these wages (not to the workers, but to the Cuban regime) the latter dribbles .5% of the total to the workers, pocketing the rest. As dreadful as they make life for their subjects, the Red Chinese and Red Vietnamese regimes dictate nothing of the sort when hosting western companies as business partners.)

posted April 16, 2008 07:29 PM            

The whole Elian Gonzalez ordeal, somehow, some way, is going to come back and bite us in the arse. Though I know "personal anecdotes" presented here (from only some of us) are always ignored or trashed ... I know from my community back home, from people who were there or whose family and friends were there, that all those rejoicing parades and hoopla when Elian was returned were also "guarded" over and the children "celebrating" were doing so under threat of force. But, it wasn't on the glorious tv. No, of course everything we see through the "accepted channels" from a friggin' communist country are the whole truth and nothing more.

The same stupid thing with the permission that Castro II has given citizens to make use of hotels they were previously banned from or to buy electronics and other things that have always been banned for the average citizen. People are making a fuss about change and progress. Nevermind that the average Cuban's fabu government salary is about $20 a month and that all these things cost in the hundreds of dollars .... just that they're allowed to dream of never owning things is supposed to be enough. And some people still fall for that garbage.

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Cubans struggle to enjoy new economic freedoms

Posted: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 3:05 PM
Filed Under: Havana, Cuba
By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief

Cubans can strike another complaint off their laundry list of grievances about life’s daily grind.

Sunday night, the Cuban government ended its decade-old ban against ordinary people staying at tourist hotels and renting cars. This is Raul Castro’s third edict in less than a month aimed at loosening government controls over consumer spending.

Previous rulings allowed any Cuban to buy a cell phone and pay for cell phone service and anyone with enough money in their pocket to walk into a government store and legally buy electronic items like computers, microwave ovens and DVD players.

The old regime of Raul’s brother Fidel Castro strictly limited these luxury items to foreigners or the upper echelon of Cuban society holding privileged jobs. The only way regular consumers gained access had been through purchases on the black market.

Lucy Alvarez, a retired electrical engineer who learned to cut hair to supplement her pension, doesn’t expect to take advantage of her new economic freedoms anytime soon. "We live hand-to-mouth," she said.

Under Cuba’s dual economy, people receive their salaries in national pesos (NP) while nearly all imported goods are priced in a convertible peso (called the CUC) that is tied to the U.S. dollar – valued at 24 times stronger than the national peso (NP). In practical terms, foreign goods are well beyond the reach of most Cubans.

For example, a 26" Panasonic flat screen TV, which went on sale Tuesday for the first time in a Havana electronics store, sells for 1,961 CUC, equal to $2,120 – more than double its retail price in other countries. And a Chinese-made moped costs some 795 CUC, a little under $860.

Nora Alonso would like a cell phone, but the 400 national pesos she earns a month working as a physical therapist in a state hospital barely covers her everyday expenses like food and clothing. A cell phone and a year of service would cost Alonso the equivalent of approximately two years of her salary.

Still she welcomes the change. "It doesn’t cost anything to dream," she said.

Alonso hopes more reforms are in the works – she wants better wages and a national currency with real purchasing power.

Hoping for real economic reform
In fact, many working people in Cuba think their government should dump the convertible money and return the island to a one-currency economy.

Reforming the island’s economy demands structural changes, argues Dr. Jaime Suchlicki from the University of Miami, changes far beyond what currently is taking place -- everything up to now, he said, is "not important."

He believes the motive behind the new measures is an "aim to appease the Cubans and give them a little hope about more things to come. They are also for external consumption to show the world that there are some changes happening in Cuba."

Suchlicki also warned that this could backfire. Instead of bridging differences in access between Cubans and foreigners, the measures might lead to more economic and social disparity between Cubans.

One government source who asked not to be named does report that government planners are considering various ideas that would lead to a stronger Cuban peso – enhancing what it could buy.

Rapid change unlikely
But most local economists agree that an across-the-board wage adjustment at this time is just not in the cards.

A recent front-page editorial in Granma, the Communist Party daily, tried to dampen public expectation of seeing any considerable improvement in the standard of living. It stressed, instead, that the workforce concentrate on improving labor discipline.

Many people employed in government-run enterprises readily confess they have little incentive to put in an 8-hour day when their pay envelopes provide little purchasing power.

In fact, there’s even a joke here that ends with the punch line, "the state pretends to pay us, so we pretend to work."

Countless workers admit that their personal goal is to find some outside source of income that will either supplement their state salary or supplant it all together. It’s currently estimated that some 60 percent of the Cuban population has regular access to hard currency – some through family remittances and others through direct earnings.

One thing that is clear is that people resent being told how they can spend their money.

That complaint surfaced last year when Raul Castro encouraged people to publicly air their grievances in controlled official settings. Upon taking office this past February, he personally pledged that his government would respond to public demands and lift its "excessive" controls -- controls that not only irritated consumers but led to discrimination.

People complained that Cuba was the only nation on earth where foreigners enjoyed more rights than the local population.

With their uncanny ability to poke fun at the surreal, Cubans even turned the ugly truth into the butt of popular jokes:

A first grade teacher asks her student Pepe, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"A foreigner!" he replies.

But government critic and free speech advocate Manuel Cuesta Morua never found the subject funny: "Maybe now we can begin to erase our feelings of national inferiority."

********

posted April 16, 2008 07:34 PM            

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quote:

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I was born in Havana in 1961 and came to the USA in '64. We are in an interesting period of time with these changes, changes that on the surface show "liberalization", while, anybody but the most gullible of us, including Obama and the Hollywood crowd, would believe that a simple Cuban that earns less than $20 per month (any way her or she can) could actually take advantage of this "liberalization."

This is as ridiculous as the announcement a few days ago that Cubans can now own such essentials like computers and cell phones. Think about how absurd it is!

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Tom
Tom Trujillo, New Milford, CT (Sent Tuesday, April 01, 2008 4:59 PM)

quote:

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Just came back from Cuba 3 days ago, staying at a family's house. The economic situation is the WORST I have ever seen it ( have been to cuba 8 times in my lifetime), and the medical system/education system is close to the breaking point.

If Cuba dosen't fix its dual currency system, much more misery awaits the Cuban people.

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quote:

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All the cuban people need is the right to elect his goverment.
El unico cambio que necesita el pueblo de Cuba es el poder elegir a sus gobernantes.

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quote:

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Can somebody tell me what ever happened to The Embargo? When was it suspended? Was it in the news? I must have missed it.

How did all those products get to the island? How did they get (and so quickly) all the electrical appliances, cell phones, and so many goodies that The Embargo was keeping from the poor and embargoed people of Cuba?

The Castro-sympathetic American media will not tell its American people the truth, as has become standard in the past twenty years, or so. They misinform us.

The truth has now become evident. It caught our media by surprise. They were not prepared to reconcile to the American people the true facts of the matter.

It's not The Embargo, stupid!

It's the Castro medieval dictatorship, stupid.

They are, they have been: The Embargo.

Do we get it now?

We Cubans have known it all along. But, what do we know?

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quote:

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I think this is a start for the Cuban people I am hopeing and praying that the Cuban Government will someday lift it's restrictions on it's people and do away with the Communist rule in Cuba and allow freedom for it's people. Maybe in time the world will accept Cuba as a Democractic Nation we can only pray for this type of change. Like I said so far this is a start. Good Luck Cubans

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quote:

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And all the liberals think this place is paradise!!! HA good let them all move to Cuba and sample the great wealth and health care.

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quote:

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One important and critical element is missing in this report. Most imported items purchased or services requested in the Island must be paid for with hard currency sent from foreign countries. Before being used for paying any merchandise or services the Government has already retained a 20% free fee. In a $800 TV set the Government makes $200 without moving a finger. This may be the real reason for the "opening". Smart move, right?

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quote:

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It is on ehell of a beautiful country. Introducing free market capitalism is the best that could happen. Erect hotels, resorts, casinos to attract new friends. It's a major carib island!

Phooey on you peeps who say we can learn something from this failed system. Go live there like a normal Cubano, and then tell us what you think. Be informed, not a toady.

America is the land of opportunity. I sure don't see any Americans in boats trying to get to Cuba! You have the ability to succeed beyond your wildest dreams here. Those that say otherwise are those who have quit trying.

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posted April 17, 2008 01:03 AM            

Who would have thought Cuba would be taken over by communists, their excellent economy destroyed, their people murdered, most impoverished and that many would die just trying to get away?

The American press is complicit and so are politicians and of course Hollywood morons. These groups have defended Castro, painted glowing pictures of life in Cuba and generally misinformed Americans as to real conditions in Cuba.

I didn't post this to upset you...though I knew it would. People need to know what really goes on in Cuba. With people, some here spouting nonsense about their great education system and their great healthcare system some would get the idea it's paradise on earth.

The reality is that Castro..who is the government..steals from the people, has expropriated the land, the factories and everything else and pays the people slave wages which are often not enough to buy even basic necessities.

posted April 17, 2008 02:36 AM            

With so much information out there, it's hard to imagine the truth hasn't been discovered. Perhaps they just haven't been looking and simply believe what's being parroted.

Even darling Amnesty International has complaints against Cuba ...

******

Cuba: Five years too many, new government must release jailed dissidents
18 March 2008

On the 5th anniversary of the largest crackdown against political opponents in Cuba, Amnesty International today called on the new Cuban authorities to immediately release the 58 dissidents still being held in jails across the country.

“Five years is five years too many. The only crime committed by these 58 is the peaceful exercise of their fundamental freedoms. Amnesty International considers them to be prisoners of conscience. They must be released immediately and unconditionally,” said Kerrie Howard, Deputy Director for Amnesty International’s Americas Programme.

In February 2008, Amnesty International welcomed the release of four prisoners of conscience and Cuba’s signing of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“The new Cuban President, Raul Castro, has to follow the recent positive actions by tackling some of the most pressing human rights issues in the country – including judicial review of all sentences passed after unfair trials, the abolition of the death penalty and the introduction of measures to guarantee freedom of expression and independence of the judiciary,” said Kerrie Howard.

Fifty-five of the 58 current prisoners of conscience in Cuba are the remainder of a group of 75 people jailed in the context of a massive crackdown against the dissident movement in March 2003. Most of them were charged with crimes including “acts against the independence of the state” because they received funds and/or materials from the United States government in order to engage in activities the authorities perceived as subversive and damaging to Cuba. These activities included publishing articles or giving interviews to US-funded media, communicating with international human rights organizations and having contact with entities or individuals viewed to be hostile to Cuba. The men were sentenced to between six and 28 years of prison after speedy and dubious trials. Twenty have so far been conditionally released on medical grounds.

Among the jailed political opponents is doctor and human rights defender Marcelo Cano Rodriguez. He was arrested in the city of Las Tunas on 25 March 2003 as he was investigating the arrest of another doctor, Jorge Luis García Paneque, detained during the crackdown on dissidents on the island. Marcelo Cano Rodríguez was tried, convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison. The activities the prosecution cited against him included visiting prisoners and their families as part of his work with the Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos (Cuban Human Rights Commission); and maintaining ties to the international organization Medicos sin Fronteras, Doctors without Borders. He is currently being held in Ariza prison in the city of Cienfuegos, around 250 km south-east of his home in the capital, Havana, where his family lives making family visits difficult.

“By continuing to hold political opponents for exercising fundamental freedoms, the Cuban authorities are failing to step up to their human rights commitments,” said Kerrie Howard.

A full list of the 58 political activists unfairly imprisoned in Cuba will be available from 18 March on: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/cuba-list-prisoners-of-conscience

posted April 17, 2008 02:44 AM            

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The Call of the International Committee to Demand Justice for the Victims of the "13 de Marzo" Massacre

This is the initiating statement of the international campaign to bring justice to the victims of the "13 de Marzo" massacre. Our challenge is to go out to the international community and reach people so that many more people can speak out on this outrage, and also to deepen our campaign so that our goal can be accomplished. Justice for Caridad Tacoronte age 4, Marjolis Méndez age 17 who had their young lives violently taken away from them, and the other thirty nine who were brutally murdered on July 13, 1994.

In the early morning hours of July 13, 1994 the tugboat "13 de Marzo" was attacked by agents of the Cuban government. They repeatedly rammed the tug, used high pressure water hoses on the victims, and sank the ship killing at least 41 men, women, and children seven miles off the coast of Havana, Cuba.

Nearly two years later on October 16, 1996 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded that the Cuban government was responsible for the deaths of the 41 people shipwrecked on the tug "13 de Marzo", the emotional trauma of the relatives of the victims and survivors who lost loved ones. The Commission also noted that the Cuban government had refused to recover the bodies or allow others to recover them for proper burial by their families.

The Victims of the 13 de Marzo Tugboat Massacre must have justice ! Print this form to add your name, join the ICDJV today, and e-mail us with your name and mailing address including your profession

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The Victims: What do the survivors have to say?
The survivors of the "13 de Marzo" massacre bravely spoke up inside and outside of Cuba to recount their experiences. Their testimony appeared on an official report of the Organization of American States condemning the actions of the Cuban government, and then on January 20, 1998 they spoke again on Nightline. MARIA VICTORIA GARCIA (through translators) Our tugboat started taking on water. We shouted to the crewmen on the boat, "Look at the children! You're going to kill them!" And he said, "Let them die. Let them die." [continue]

Putting the "13 de Marzo Into Context
The sinking of the "13 de Marzo" was not the first nor sadly will it be the last incident of agents of the Cuban government brutally killing Cubans trying to flee the island. More than a year before the July 13 massacre the US filed a complaint reported on July 7, 1993 in the Miami Herald:
The attacks on swimmers in Guantanamo Bay drew especially sharp criticism because the refugees might easily have been detained without violence, U.S. officials said. "The idea of blowing people up when they are vulnerable underwater is appalling," Gelbard said. A State Department aide called the use of gaffs, usually used to pull gamefish into boats, to pull bodies from the water an act of extreme cruelty." [continue]

posted April 17, 2008 03:04 AM            

10. In this regard, in the framework of its conclusions in its 1994 Annual Report, the Commission indicated, inter alia, that "the Government's repression of political dissent, the de facto and de jure subordination of the administration of justice to the Government Party, the lack of guarantees against arbitrary arrest, and the deliberately severe and degrading conditions in Cuban prisons, combined with the serious economic situation, constitute a dangerous potential for social conflicts and are a matter of profound concern for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights."5 Further on, the Commission added: "Consequently, ... [it is] absolutely necessary that the Cuban Government immediately initiate political and economic reforms in order to prevent the situation deteriorating even further. If the present situation continues, the outcome would be extremely serious for the human rights situation in general."6

IV. CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

15. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has referred in previous reports to the systematic practice of the Cuban State of discriminating against citizens under its jurisdiction for political reasons and the lack of freedom of expression, association, and assembly. During the period covered by this report, the practice of the Cuban authorities has not changed, nor have the constitutional and criminal provisions on which they rely in so acting. In other words, the harassment, accusations, adoption of disciplinary measures and prison sentences for persons who peacefully display their disagreement with the political regime in place have persisted. Such harassment is directed especially at groups geared to supporting human rights, including trade union rights, or political activity. These groups are characterized by their decision to use only peaceful means in pressing their grievances, despite which the authorities consider their activities illegal, and they are persecuted in various ways. The criminal offenses most commonly used to characterize these persons' activities include "enemy propaganda," "contempt" (desacato), "unlawful association," "clandestine possession of printed matter," "posing a danger," "rebellion," and "acts against state security."

B. FREEDOM OF PRESS

25. As has been indicated in this report, since 1960 all the communications media have been state-run. The functions of the mass media in Cuba, and especially the written press, may be better understood when viewed in light of the functions assigned to them by the doctrine of the party in power in Cuba today. The written newspapers are assigned the functions of agitation, propaganda, organization, and self-criticism.

26. These functions presuppose a shared and unified political outlook, while at the same time they are geared to eliminating the sectors that might oppose this basic conception. Thus, the task of agitation is part of the ideological struggle, and therefore does not necessarily coincide with the objectivity and veracity that are at the basis of the information function.

27. In view of the propaganda function given the press by the state, the press is also a channel of education and indoctrination in Marxism-Leninism. Therefore the daily newspaper Granma, Cuba's main paper, is the organ of the Communist Party Central Committee, and devotes much of its content to that objective. Granma was designed based on Pravda, the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the former Soviet Union, and was created from the merger of two pre- existing daily papers, Hoy and Revolución. The frequent discrepancies between the two newspapers led to the decision to merge them and to adopt its current character.

28. As indicated in this report, the main newspapers in Cuba reflect only the viewpoints of the government. Only to a very limited extent do they report on the debates that take place within the high-level organs of state. As a result, self- criticism is also limited, i.e. it refers to very specific aspects of daily life in Cuba. It is a role the press plays with a view to transmitting the grievances of the grass-roots to the top echelons of power. Nonetheless, in no way do the discrepancies overstep the limits set by the requirements of ideological conformity, i.e. in no way can they oppose, or become spokespersons advocating a radical change in the prevailing regime, or that hold upper-level government officials accountable in relation to substantive political issues.

29. The limits set by the governing party of Cuba on any type of criticism that represents open opposition to the regime encompass reprisals that range from being laid off, to proceedings that result in prison sentences. In this regard, for example, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was informed that Alexis Castañeda Pérez de Alejo a journalist for the newspapers Vanguardia and Huella, was sentenced to five years in prison for having made statements described as "enemy propaganda."

30. Such reprisals, as well as the lay-offs, have led many journalists fired for political reasons to form independent news agencies to provide information to foreign media outlets. These journalists, however, are subjected to all types of harassment, including searches of their homes, and confiscation of equipment (facsimile machines, tape recorders, cameras, videotapes, etc.). During the period covered by this annual report, the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights has received abundant information that confirms the information in the preceding paragraphs. Following are some of the cases that describe the intimidating measures adopted by the Cuban State:

C. RIGHT TO JUSTICE AND DUE PROCESS

34. In that context, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights should reiterate, once again, that in Cuba there is still de facto and de jure subordination of the administration of justice to the political authorities. In effect, during the period covered by this report, the constitutional and criminal provisions have not changed, nor has the practice of the Cuban authorities. Article 121 of the Constitution of Cuba indicates, for example: "The courts constitute a system of state organs, structured with functional independence from any other, and subordinated hierarchically to the National Assembly of People's Power and to the Council of State."

36. For its part, Article 74 of the Political Constitution provides that the "President of the State Council is the head of state and the head of Government." In other words, the head of the Cuban State concentrates within himself all of the state organs. Accordingly, the subordination of all social affairs in Cuba to the political power; the political practice of the regime and the juridical order on which that practice is based; the excluding nature of any different political concept and the absence of effective guarantees that allow individuals to claim their rights from the State--all of these factors together allow the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to consider that this is a totalitarian political system.

D. RIGHT TO LIFE

51. In this context, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights notes that during the period covered by this report it has received numerous complaints that describe violations of the right to life by agents of the Cuban State. One particularly serious case involves the shooting down of two unarmed civil aircraft of the organization "Hermanos al Rescate" by two Cuban military aircraft. In effect, on February 24, 1996, at 3:21 p.m. and 3:27 p.m., respectively, two MIG 29 aircraft from the Cuban Air Force downed two unarmed civilian aircraft from the organization "Hermanos al Rescate,"17 who were setting out to save Cuban boat people. The attack on the airplanes--according to an International Civil Aviation Organization report--occurred in international air space and caused the death of two U.S. citizens, Carlos Costa and Mario de la Peña; one U.S. citizen born in Cuba, Armando Alejandre; and one U.S. resident of Cuban nationality, Pablo Morales.

53. Another grave violation of the right to life is the extrajudicial execution of political prisoner Erasmín Quesada Alvarez, 25 years of age, who was serving his sentence at the "Kilo-7" prison, in the city of Camagüey. According to the information provided, the events occurred in July 1996, in circumstances in which the victim was allowed to leave the prison with a special permit to visit his family. On observing that Erasmín Quesada Alvarez did not return to prison within the time allowed, State Security agents sought him and forcefully entered his home and proceeded to execute him as they entered, with several bullet wounds. This led a group of human rights activists to gather in protest in the town of Céspedes, province of Camagüey.

54. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has also been informed that on September 14, 1996, Renso Salvello Gallego, 29 years of age, who resided at Calle 110, No. 5111, between Avenidas 51 (Marianao) and 59 (City of Havana) was killed in public by a police lieutenant by the last name of Mariño, chief of the police sector in that zone. It has been noted that this official detained Salvello when he travelled by bicycle through his neighborhood and with no words passing between them, aimed him weapon at him and shot a projectile that went through his head, causing his death instantly. The victim's relatives have stated that presumably the officer had taken the young man for someone else. Nonetheless, the Asociación de Lucha Contra la Injusticia Nacional issued a communicating noting, inter alia: "Acts of this nature occur frequently in the national territory because they are provoked by impunity. An example of this is the recidivism of this member of the military, whose had committed similar prior acts."

E. RIGHT OF RESIDENCE AND MOVEMENT

60. One of the issues to which the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has devoted special attention in previous reports is the right of Cuban citizens to reside in their own homeland, to leave it, and to return as they deem appropriate. In this regard, the Commission observes with concern that Cuban legislation continues to fail to recognize the right of a person to leave his or her own country and to return to it, as citizens require permission from the Ministry of Interior to travel abroad. The Cuban migration authorities continue to deny visas for political reasons, thereby affecting a fundamental human right. Following are some of the cases that occurred during the period covered by this report and demonstrate thy prevailing situation:

a. María del Carmen Acosta Rivera and Enmanuel Rodríguez Acosta are unable to leave Cuba since the migration authorities will not give them the respective permission. They have had a visa to enter the United States since February 23, 1996. It should also be noted that the permit to enter the United States was issued under the Refugee Program (Case No. 15796), and that Ernesto Rivero Gutiérrez, the husband of María del Carmen Acosta, has been in the United States since May 1996.

b. Hilda Molina Morejón and her mother Hilda Morejón Serrantes had their authorization to leave the country temporarily to visit her family, which resides in Argentina, rejected. It should be noted that Hilda Molina Morejón resigned her post as director of the International Center for Neurological Restoration over ideological issues.

c. During the period covered by this report, Elio Borges Guzmán filed for the 20,000-visa lottery that the United States offered for those wishing to emigrate there, and was awarded a family visa. Despite this, Elio Borges, who is an electronics engineer, with an undergraduate degree in economics, and who worked with the Ministry of Communication, was denied permission to leave the country. According to the information provided, the Director of the Ministry, Carlos Martínez, called him to his office and called him a "traitor", and threatened him, saying he would only leave the country "when he [Martínez] felt like it." One month after having won the lottery he was transferred, as punishment, to a postal office to work delivering telegrams at a monthly salary of 110 Cuban pesos, i.e. one-third of what he had been earning.

V. PRISON CONDITIONS

71. In its 1994 Report, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed concern over "the grave prison conditions and deliberately severe and degrading treatment of the prisoners by the Cuban government, which constitute serious human rights violations."23 In this respect, the Commission laments having to note that this situation remains unchanged. Indeed, the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights should highlight that during the period covered by this report, the number of complaints received over the grave conditions to which the prison population in Cuba is subjected on a daily basis is far greater than the number of complaints that describe violations of other rights set forth in the American Declaration.

72. In effect, overcrowding, poor hygienic conditions, scarcity and poor quality of food, deficient medical care, beatings, solitary confinement as punishment (behind closed doors and without light), keeping common prisoners together with those jailed for political reasons, and of those convicted with those awaiting trial or judgment, limited family visits, etc., are some of the prevailing conditions in Cuban prisons. The sources of information also describe the existence of 294 prisons and correctional work camps nationwide, with an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 prisoners of all categories.24 Further, the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights was also informed that as of July 1996 there were approximately 1,173 persons being tried for crimes with political overtones.25

73. There are six maximum security prisons in Cuba. (A) Combinado del Este (Havana); (B) Cinco y Medio (Pinar del Río); (C) San Severino (Matanzas); (D) Santa Clara (Las Villas); (E) Kilo Siete (Camagüey); and (F) Boniato (Oriente). The farms (granjas) are detention centers surrounded by barbed wire fence and armed guards, and the open fronts (frentes abiertos) are workplaces in the countryside or city, with minimum security. It has been noted that the prisoners on the "farms" produce the pre- fabricated elements for construction, and the prisoners at the "open fronts" assemble them. The three stages of confinement are maximum, minor, and minimum security (i.e. the prison, the farm, and the open front, respectively).

74. The basis of the Cuban penal system is social defense. The function of punishment is to protect the group from "socially dangerous" persons and to seek to re-educate those who are punished. Furthermore, prison treatment during the period of imprisonment provides, in theory, that the persons punished be remunerated for their socially useful work; they are provided with appropriate clothing and footwear; they are given normal daily rest and one rest day per week; they are provided medical and hospital care, in case of illness; they are given the right to obtain long-term social security benefits in the case of total disability caused by work-related accidents. If a prisoner dies due to work-related accidents, his family with receive the respective pension. Prisoners are to be given an opportunity to receive and broaden their education and technical training; they are given, to the extent and in the manner provided in the regulations, the possibility of exchanging correspondence with persons not held in prisons, and to receive visits and consumer goods; based on their conduct, and to the extent and in the manner provided in the regulations, they are authorized to make use of the conjugal ward; they are given leave to visit outside the prison for limited times; they are given the opportunity and means to enjoy recreation and practice sports based on the activities programmed by the prison; and they are promoted from one prison regime to another less severe one.26

75. In practice, the situation is entirely different. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has received testimony and information on various prisons, including the Combinado del Este, which is the largest in the country. It is situated approximately 18 kilometers from Havana. The testimony transcribed just below is a report from a Cuban-based nongovernmental organization prepared in June 1995:27

During a recent visit by Mr. Esteban Lazo, high- level leader of the Communist Party, to the Havana prison Combinado del Este, the authorities were installing new lamps with cold light until 2 o'clock in the morning. The conflictive prisoners were transferred to the halls on the third floor. Mr. Lazo only went to the second floor. The order given in the halls of this prison was for the scene to be perfect and to give the visitors the impression they were being useful. That day lunch for the personnel employed at the prison was rice mixed with beef, pork, sausage, and bread, mixed salad of cabbage, tomatoes, and carrots. There were soft drinks and cookies. At all times Mr. Lazo was followed by a retinue of more than 30 officials. These visits never reveal deficiencies in the prisons where they are conducted.

Meanwhile, in the prison, the buildings have problems in their construction, and so are humid and cold; there are many tuberculosis cases among the prisoners. Eighty percent of the prison population is made up of young people under 35 years of age. Most have one or more relatives in prison. This prison has several thousand prisoners, making it the largest in the country. Many of them enter for six months and then other cases are brought against them. More than fifty percent are recidivists.

The lack of medication is alarming. The patients in the hospital are mistreated; some have died as a result. Several hundred prisoners have been admitted for malnutrition, and there are epidemics of conjunctivitis and hepatitis. The asthmatic prisoners complain about the lack of medication for periods of crisis. It is also known that some prisoners sleep on the floor. There are prisoners whose molars and hair are coming out. Others have had to be admitted on several occasions for malnutrition. The prisoners admitted complain of weakness and ask for food. They do not want to enter the infirmary, but rather are taken to the yard to eat oranges, for they're hungry. They walk about leaning on the walls, dragging their feet, pallid, and extremely thin, with their pants falling down.

It was learned that prisoners here have been disabled by neuropathy. There's also the case of prisoner Omar Linares, who died after being taken to the hospital at Combinado del Este. Linares was admitted on the 23rd [of June, 1995], with abdominal pains and weighing very little, his body almost corpse- like. On June 27 [of that year] he died. The saddest aspect of this case is that he had served his sentence as of June 22, and they had not released him. According to the relatives, he was diagnosed with an ulcer, and was in a severe state of malnutrition such that when his ulcer perforated, it led to his death.

So far this year approximately 10 prisoners have died at Combinado del Este who enjoyed good health. They lost their life due to "natural deaths." In addition are the suicides of minors due to unknown causes. The food consists of sweet potato, two tablespoons of pasta per person, and one boiled plantain that the prisoners eat with the peel, which causes diarrhea with bleeding.

Further, on April 25 the prisoners who work repairing the operating room were brought rice with decomposed fish; the stench emanated, was unbearable, and the food vessel had a large number of worms. The prisoners protested and refused to work that afternoon.

VI. ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

80. The Resolution adopted at the Ninth International Conference of American States held in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1948, which gave rise to the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, indicates among its considerations, inter alia, that the peoples of the Americas "have as their principal aim the protection of the essential rights of man and the creation of circumstances that will permit him to achieve spiritual and material progress...." The American Declaration sets forth not only civil and political rights, but also economic, social, and cultural rights.

81. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has noted that "a life free from fear and want inevitably entails guaranteeing civil and political rights, for it is through popular participation that those whose economic and social rights are denied can participate in the decisions that relate to the allocation of national resources and the establishment of social, educational, and health programs. Participation of the people, an objective of representative democracy, guarantees that all social sectors participate in the formulation, implementation, and review of national programs. And although one could say that political participation strengthens protections for economic, social, and cultural rights, it is also true that the enforcement of those rights creates the conditions for the population in general to be empowered, i.e. to participate actively and productively in the process of political decision-making."30

82. The lack of the right to political participation understood as the right to organize political parties and associations has been one of the main factors contributing to the economic crisis in Cuba. The Inter-American Commission has stated that "free debate and ideological struggle can increase the social level and the economic conditions of the community, and exclude the monopoly over power of a single group or individual."31

83. The figures available to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights indicate that 80% of the Cuban industrial sector is not operating and that 40% of the active population is unemployed or underemployed.32 Consequently, it has been noted that the Cuban State, in order to offset the loss in revenues, continues to provide 60% of salaries to the unemployed. Nonetheless, this sum is not enough to cover the basic needs of the average worker.33 As a result, according to the information provided, these workers must engage in illegal activity or seek work in the informal sector or in the self-employed jobs they are authorized to perform. The various forms of social control established by the state contribute to restricting the labor options, with the consequent sequelae of bureaucratic red tape required to obtain the authorizations for switching jobs. The dynamics characteristic of a still-centralized economy operate similarly.

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posted April 17, 2008 03:12 AM            

A Dangerous Situation

By Laritza Diversent

HAVANA, Cuba - The situation on the ground today in Cuba is extremely dangerous and delicate. It has been clouded now by the widely predicted, but diffuse renunciation, of Fidel Castro to the main people in charge of running the country.

The new government has tried to demonstrate confidence and political security. All of it is simple and superficial. They are conscious of the crisis of legitimacy passing through the old communist direction. It is correlative to the need to reabsorb this group along with having to renew the social consensus.

The current hegemonic crisis of the governing elite results from the failure of their ethical and political direction. From the beginning, they decided to make propaganda to the Castrista ideology, but far from obtaining the necessary social control in order to govern, the ways of thinking and working have been standardized on a national level.

The persistence of the social conflicts and the lack of organization are the best evidence of the current political crisis. When speaking about the conflicts, I am referring to the development and increase in the number of the social ills inside the country, such as administrative corruption, illegal activities, delinquency, prostitution, etc. These types of conduct go against the legally imposed order. Besides being a means of subsistence, they constitute forms of dissent and rebellion against the norms being imposed by the communist bureaucratic oligarchy to conform.

In turn, the government is conscious of these phenomena and of the consequences that they could bring in the future. Nevertheless, these forms of social reaction currently do not pass for being primarily demonstrations. This is exactly where the danger lies. The Cuban people neither have the means nor the capacity of being social and politically reoriented and organized. After almost fifty years, the communist government has transformed the nation. A people full of combative traditions became a mass of passive citizens.

A typical Cuban of today sees the State as something unconnected to them. He feels that without his intervention something will occur anyway. He has been led to believe that above him a phantasmagoric omnipresent and autonomous divinity entity exists. Consequently, the people are uninterested in the political culture. They are only interested in the particular individual involved. The people may know to read and to write, but the qualification is not culture.

The difficulties of our economic situation, the hunger and fear of repression have alienated us from being part of the construction of our own destiny. In the Cuban society, social groups with power don’t exist. There is no program for the transition to democracy, nor established strategic alliances. It does not feel like political pluralism.

At this moment, we have governmental elites that are willing to run the risk to a dark future by making demagogic promises. The ones Castro made last December 24 to the people of Santiago de Cuba to win their votes exemplify this. But, the elites maintain their power by making these sacrifices. They serve Raúl in order to crush and to decimate the opposition of the political legitimacy it might have. They do not intend to recognize such opposition, but they are conscious that it exists.

By renewing the Castrista’s stay in power, the field is open to the use of force as a solution. This can enliven the dark forces represented by the charismatic, providential men of Cuban communism. Personalities like the Castros.

As it currently is, the current political crisis unfolding in Cuba has created a dangerous situation.

Translated from Spanish by Scott Hudson (People in Need)