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Rights, Freedoms and Repression
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Cuba: what will happen when Fidel is gone? international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
feature
 Wednesday August 02, 2006 19:34 by IMC Éire foreign correspondent
The beach at Maria La Gorda
Some thoughts on Cuba. So it seems as if Cuba could be in for a rough ride over the next few months, if some of the speculation about Fidel Castro being already dead is to be believed. Even if the surprisingly robust leader is genuinely only in hospital for minor surgery - if any surgery for someone at the age of 80 can be described as 'minor' - the world has got a glimpse of what is going to happen (most notably in Miami) when nature eventually takes its course and Castro passes on. I visited Cuba around 12 months ago. I had some reservations about going. I guess others would call me left wing but I was in no way steadfastly supportive of the communist setup. When we arrived, as soon as we got into a taxi from the airport (which was in itself a bureaucratic nightmare hangover from the iron curtain era), we realised that our near total lack of Spanish was going to be a massive handicap. As time went on, we were able to converse with the basics, and our confidence grew, but ultimately we found it hard to progress beyond simple concepts. I would have liked to have talked to people about politics, their expectations, etc. The language barrier prevented this. We met two Spaniards in Maria La Gorda, whose English was OK. We passed by several political "advertisements" on the road. I asked them if they had talked to the locals about the political situation. They told me that Cuban people did not like the government or the roadside hoardings; if you talked to them for a while, they would eventually open up. The murals were not painted by local people in the community, as per Northern Ireland or in the Basque country, but instead by the state. I wasn't totally convinced yet though about the supposed massive undercurrent of opposition to the political system. If you hopped in a taxi in Ireland or went down to the local pub and asked people here what they thought of the politicians in the Dáil, undoubtedly you would get a very vocal and negative response, but exactly how that would transform into meaningful political action or initiatives by the people isn't clear to me. When you're travelling around Cuba, and it is a beautiful place, it slowly dawns on you that there is no advertising at all. And its only when its gone that you realise what a massive space it takes up in society here. The political murals are not that frequent. Your eyes and brain start to take in more of the surroundings, rather than being bombarded with logos and slogans. It is a breath of fresh air to see a country not ravaged by the likes of McDonalds etc on the roadsides. Of course there is poverty. It would be flippant of me as a white male European to say it's all relative; but I talked to someone who had worked in the Dominican Republic, and he said that although the Cubans were poor, it paled into insignificance when you compared it to what he had seen in Santo Domingo. When you are walking through the villages and small towns, people do not have anywhere near the same amount of luxuries that are common in the capitalist/"developed" world. The embargo has a lot to do with this. Yet there is also a culture of recycling and regeneration that is positive. If something breaks, rather than throw it away like we do here, people fix and repair an item back to working order. This is instantly visible with the cars too. Compared to the grinding poverty and instability in other Caribbean countries, the Cuban population seems to be doing alright. They get their weekly sack of food from the government, there is decent health care, education, and social welfare. When you walk around Havana though, you realise the implications of state control over information. The bookshops only stock certain types of literature, and dont feature much political material - apart from books by Castro, Che, Marx, etc. Despite being flush with tourists, there are no foreign newspapers on sale on the streets. Cyber cafés are non existent, and I dont expect to see an Indymedia.cu sprout up any time soon. Freedom of association, speech and press are severely curbed, under laws which classify "disrespect for authority" as a crime. Human Rights Watch says that the denial of basic civil and political rights is written into Cuban law. "A number of criminal law provisions grant the state extraordinary power to prosecute people who attempt to exercise basic rights to free expression, opinion, association, and assembly. The country’s courts also deny defendants internationally-recognised guarantees of due process, including the right to a public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal." Fidel has in some ways fucked it up for the communists. He has built himself into an immense icon. Everywhere you go there are posters of him and Che together, coming down from the mountains. His books are on sale on every street corner. There are countless photos of him in the museums, and he appears on state TV regularly to extoll the virtues of the society he has created. He is the revolution personified and near-immortalised. Its like living in a bad dream where tiny dogmatic leninist parties slogans and ideas are the norm. When he dies, the place he occupied will leave an enormous vacuum. But what will happen when Castro kicks it? There are Cubans waiting in the wings in Miami, backed by Washington and the CIA, who will gladly take the first chance to sieze power if the opportunity arises. These people are primarily descendents of the industrialists, capitalists and Mafioso scum who lost out during the revolution in 1959, when their land and property was nationalised to feed the starving people. They're well funded and heavily armed, and are the prime contenders for an American-backed coup d'état. They welcomed Castro's illness with macabre dancing in the streets and driving around in their SUVs, blowing horns and waving Cuban flags. The state of the nation pre-1959 will not resonate with many Cubans today, but you only have to read "Travellers tales of Old Cuba" (edited by John Jenkins) to get an idea of the exploitation, oppression, poverty and crime the Cubans suffered under Batista. The prostitution and gambling was also depicted in the Godfather films. This is what prompted the revolution in the first place, and any return to a Batista style regime propped up by the US Military will only spell misery for the native Cuban population. If the communist system does collapse, then Cuba will also inevitably change visually. The near-monopoly of the state on enterprise will be broken. The multinationals will move in of course, the island being prime real estate only a short plane journey away from the US. Its uniqueness will be stripped away by the onslaught of advertising, fast food joints, and consumer culture. Yet there must be some change. There has to be freedom of the press and freedom of political association, without state oppression, as there should be everywhere. Places like Varadero, a tourist resort where Cubans are not allowed into, are a disgrace. There have been many human rights abuses by the Castro organisation that must be accounted for and faced up to. I think that change must come from within Cuba itself rather than external forces. Perhaps a gradual opening up of the political system should be entered into, and Raul (Castro's brother) has at times indicated this. The local "CDRs" (Committee for the Defence of the Revolution) which as far as I know are local milita/Dads Army units, could organise neighbourhood assemblies on the lines of Argentina's (brief) anti-IMF insurrection, or mirror what is happening with the Other Campaign in Mexico. If the old system is to fall away, a new system must be in place to ensure that the poverty and unequal distribution of wealth experienced by the populace of other central American and Caribbean countries is not replicated. Changes, in order for them to be peaceful and long lasting, must happen organically and by the people themselves. Some Cuban dissidents have termed American interference as counterproductive. As welcoming as a gradual and grassroots change would be, unfortunately it seems unlikely. The US has for years seen Cuba as a backdoor black sheep, and will probably instigate some sort of "regime change" to tie in with Bush's grand neo-con project. Whether this takes the form of a military occupation like Afghanisation or Iraq, or the transformation of the island into a colonial 52nd state a la Hawaii and Puerto Rico remains to be seen. Ultimately I feel this will be of detriment to the Cuban people.
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Comments (29 of 29)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29As the writer says above Cuba may not be the most free of places, but compared to anywhere else in the Third World / Latin America the quality of life is infinitely better. The population are well educated, have the best health service in the entire Third World and even have lower infant mortality than Washington D.C.
Another interesting thing is how Cuba surivived a Peak Oil of sorts, because when the USSR collapsed it lost its oil imports (in the early 1990s). Cuba had to go from an industrial type farming system with large inputs of fossil fuels in the form of fertilisers and insecticides and switch to one without these. They managed to do this without anyone starving and have largely switched to an organic farming system. I would imagine the food is a lot better and healthier. As Peak Oil hits over the next decade or so, the rest of the World will need to do this. And Cuba is there as the shining example of how to do it with the least disruption.
Cuba has the most doctors and engineers per capita than anywhere in the Third World. They also have their own distinctive culture. They are not starving and do not live in the kind of grinding poverty that we see in the massive slums in Brazil and Argentina and Central America where gang and drug violence in these other places is dreadful and where large multi-national corporations largely determine what happens economically in these countries and human rights abuses are widespread.
The author talks of change for Cuba and says it has to change. Indeed it may, but for as long as the rogue superpower to the north of them continues to exist in its present form, there is zero chance of that change being for the better. It is a near certainity that once Castro dies, the full destablization plan for Cuba will commence and they will be given a simple choice. Accept neo-liberalism and privatisation of every concievable asset in the country or else. That else will undoubtly be in the form of various "opposition groups" sponsered by state terrorist organisations like the CIA and others. These groups will instigate widespread violence, corruption, sabotage and criminality and will no doubt be used for a pretext for either an US invasion or coup d'etat to put in place a regime that will be on a par with the likes of Haiti. We can be sure that many Cubas alive today and happily going about their business will soon be dead and gravely injured.
The problem for the capitalists in general and the neo-con allies in the White House is that Cuba has served as a living example to the US and indeed the rest of the World that other forms of society are possible. Ones where people can have free education and free health and do NOT have to live in grinding poverty, such as the case in much of the world. From their perspective it must be removed and now the opportunity has arrived to do just that. And that they will. We should not for one second belive this will be done peacefully.
The revolution is always more than one man it takes more than one to start it and to keep going
Castro is a very strong man and if this is his time the revolution will still go on in his memory
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu
http://www.granma.cu
http://www.prensalatina.com.mx
http://www.trabajadores.cubaweb.cu
http://www.jrebelde.cubaweb.cu
http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu
http://www.cubadebate.cu
http://www.cubademanda.cu/
http://www.alternativabolivariana.org/
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/alba/index.html
http://www.elacm.sld.cu
http://www.trabajadores.cubaweb.cu/ayuda-medica-cubana/...e.htm
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/salud/paquistan/index.html
http://www.cubaminrex.cu/CDH/62cdh/Libro_Blanco_2006/Li...x.htm
http://www.cubaminrex.cu/CDH/62cdh/Libro_Blanco_2006/Pa...I.htm
http://www.antiterroristas.cu
http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/patriotas/principal.htm
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/miami5/index.html
http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/ingles/index.html
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html
http://www.plenglish.com/
http://www.cubanow.net/
Otros sitios web en :
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/prensa.htm
http://www.visionesalternativas.com/
Radio y TV cubanas:
http://www.rrebelde.cu
http://www.radioprogreso.cu
http://www.radiohc.cu
http://www.cubavision.cubaweb.cu
http://www.mesaredonda.cu
Long live the freedom loving people of Cuba. Che Guevara RIP. Viva Castro - Long live Cuba. Amen.
You got it wrong. The figures in wax are Che and Camilo Cienfuegos, another revolutionary leader of the July 27 Movement. The staw hat's the tip off.
http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/camilo.htm
Take off the blinkers
by Che O'Grady Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:08
Cuba was a seedy casino-brothel for the Yanks before 1959. What is it now? A seedy brothel for Canadians, Germans and middle aged men of many wealthy nations who come there and are facilitated in glorified sex tourism. The cops are well in on it as are the hotels; by the way working class Cubans are not allowed in the hotels that tourists stay in, except to work. its hard to have a discussion about politics with an ordinary Cuban because people will tell you 'we can't talk about that.' I'd say Raul and Fidel don't go without much despite the blockade. There are good things, the health system, education but people want more and the ability to march up and down shouting political slogans shouldn't land you in jail and I'm not talking about people who want the Yanks back; just those who think they should be allowed read more than Fidel's collected works. Che's image is everywhere, like the Michael Collins of Cuba he symbolizes what might have been. The black market, scamming, ripping people off, all as common as in any under developed economy that hopes tourists might bring in a bit of money. There will be some sort of popular movement agaibnst Raul and it might well be funded by the Yanks or Miami Cubans but it will build on the real discontent at how ordinary Cubans are treated by a regime that puts tourists on a pedestal; its embarrasing to be in a queue and a policeman will come along and march you to the top of it in front of the people in line or to be chatting to a person and the hotel security to say sorry no way can they come in to our bar. If thats socialism.....
Third world refers to any country that allied itself with neither the west nor the soviet bloc during the cold war.
By that logic, Ethiopia, Somalia, the Congo, Nicaragua, in fact barely any countries qualify as 'third world', such was the level of Superpower interference during the 'Cold War'.
Today, however, the term is frequently used to denote nations with a low UN Human Development Index (HDI), independent of their political status (meaning that the PRC, Russia and Brazil, all of which were very strongly aligned during the Cold War, are often termed third world). However, there is no objective definition of Third World or "Third World country" and the use of the term remains common.
CUBA, Fidel and us..
Today it's time of learning about the real CUBA, don't miss the opportunity history gives you.
Reports of efforts by the terrorist administration in the White House to step up provocations against Cuba continue. In the report referenced by the URL below, it says:
In the wake of President’s Fidel Castro’s announcement that he is temporarily turning over the principal reins of power to his brother, Raul........... the Bush administration has escalated its provocations against Cuba, posing the threat of a direct US intervention against the island nation.
And significantly it says:
While anti-Castro Cuban exile groups in Florida issued calls for mass civil disobedience and military mutiny, reports from Cuba indicated no signs of unrest.
This would indicate to me that the Cuba people while not exactly free, but in a heck of a lot better shape than citizens in much of Central and South America realize that the US is more likely to bring repression and suffering rather than any increased freedom.
And ominously:
Alongside with the ritualistic calls for “democracy” in Cuba, US government officials announced plans for a major deployment of the Navy and US Coast Guard to effectively blockade the island and prevent refugees from fleeing to the US in the event Washington intervenes militarily or succeeds in precipitating a major crisis on the island.
The attempt to whip up a crisis over Castro’s health comes just weeks after the administration in Washington unveiled an $80 million Cuban “democracy” program to finance internal opposition to the Castro regime and prepare for a “transition” to the installation of a pro-US regime. This comes on top of the $35 million the US spends annually to finance Radio and TV Marti propaganda broadcasts beamed into Cuba, as well as the secret CIA budget for destabilization efforts on the island.
And revealing their plans of Washington's Cuba policy:
The bankruptcy of Washington’s Cuba policy—maintained over the course of 10 US administrations—is summed up in the fact that the principal US strategy has been reduced to waiting for the 79-year-old Castro to die. A 45-year economic embargo, along with the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 and countless CIA-backed terrorist attacks on the Cuban people, as well as hundreds of attempted assassinations of Castro himself have failed to dislodge the regime.
The plans of the commission, which was co-chaired by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutiérrez, a Cuban-American, consist largely of exploiting the death or incapacitation of Castro and disrupting attempts of the Cuban state to organize an orderly transition to his political successors.
Again I must stress and this report backs it up, there is zero chance of any sort of peaceful outcome once Castro dies in the "opening up" of Cuba.
Let's hope that more Cubans can get on the internet - the World Bank says that 13 out of 1,000 have internet access. Something for Indymedia to help with?
Look folks we dont even know if Castro gave back all of Russias nukes after the crisis.
Theres good evidence that says Castro shot Kennedy and Cubans beat the tar out of the US/South African/Israeli allience in Angola.
So on balance, Cuba has won, Castro might not shout it from the roof tops and the US govt doesnt want the world to know it, so its better for both sides not to inflame the sheepish American public so they say nothing.
Anyone who thinks that the US and Cubans are direct foes, needs only to look at where Guantamo Bay is.
Viva Cuba! Viva Castro!
The 40 plus year of the blockade of Cuba prevented the Cuban people from experiencing even greater advantages, but they still have better living standards than many other caribbean nations.
If the Cubans have much greater living standards today than places like Haiti, The Domincan Republic, etc... Just think how much better off they would be if there was not a brutal blockade against them......
Their living standards would probably have surpassed many working people in the US, Canada, and Europe....
One of the reasons that they may not have the same political freedoms which many people in the Bourgeois democracies have is because, the power structures in a place like Cuba are geared towards working on what can benefit the majority of the people,, and criticism of these structures is seen as counter-revolutionary, and aimed at undermining the revolution...... In contrast......Much of the so-called free debate in the western Bourgeois democracies is controlled by the wealthy Bourgeoisie, who own and control the media outlets, and the political power structures, which are set up to benefit the interests of the ruling elites... Just look at what happened in Venezuela with the so-called free media outlest...... They are owned by and work for the intersts of the ruling elites, and that is why they were in support of the Coup against Chavez.....
And the ruling Venezuelan Bourgeoisie, is still working with the US ruling class to take over once again......You can find a number of articles about what they are up to, at the following website
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/
Just look at how the will of the people is ignored constantly by these power structures...when it comes to the policies of the WTO, NAFTA, GATT, the wars in Iraq, Afganistan, Lebanon, etc... etc...
Yes people in the western Bourgeois, democracies can voice thei opinions more openly, but that's only because their opinions are ignored for the most part, and never really taken into consideration, and if we get too loud the ruling elites can always call up their hired goon squads, and military, to beat us up, kill us, or imprison us...
And today under the Patriot act in the US, we can be imprisioned with secret evidence against us which we have no right to know about......
Can real politcal debate in Cuba be encourged ,yes , and what it should revolve around should be how to create structures which would help to further build up an economically just society for all, and not just for the few elites who want to own the entire world, and turn us all into wage slaves, who will be allowed to voice our gripes, but we will be denied any political power to do anything about it............
The disparity of living standards in Carribean states (excluding the largest states with Carribean coastlines ; USA, Mexico & Venezuela) is the most marked of any geographical area in the world & also the most reliant on 21st century financial services. Much of the money spent in these states is earned elsewhere (in the USA or the EU) and "wired" home via companies such as Western Union.
This morning's Spanish press led with front page pictures of "life as normal" in Cuba, some papers noticed a higher police presence in Havana, one cartoonist depicted the island highlighting Guantanamo at one end and Havana at the other and a circle of vultures overhead. But one picture which caught my attention in the cafe was of a pensioner and widow at her fridge. She recieves 150 cuban pesos a month in cash which is approximately 4 euros or a little less than 5 US$. It's the same as the monthly wage of a bicycle taxi driver. I call this the "rickshaw index". To put it in context, in European capital cities a bicycle taxi driver earns on average 30% above usual local precarity wage (taken as meaning social security bonded pub or bar work) this means generally the types with fine legs who will bring you around Amsterdam, Stockholm, Berlin or Barcelona like the job and aren't really doing it for the money being made by the company owners who augment that income by advertising. However, in most states outside of the EU where the "rickshaw index" applies, the driver has the option of buying the biketaxi which most drivers do operation joint ownership or share schemes with others. Cuban rickshaws are in this respect pretty much the same as their south eastern Asian equivalents.
Cuban retired citizens in addition to their 4€ or 5$ a month cash also receive 6kg of rice, (the largest carbohydrate allowance) a supply of eggs (for protein) , fruit, oil and sundry other material which amounts to a limited but balanced diet. The photo I saw this morning of a widow at her open and empty fridge lamenting how she is "tired of eating rice" really got me thinking about many things-
* the price of a cup of tea.
* the provision of state pensions.
And at end I came to the conclusion that Cuba is unique in its geographical hinterland which includes as the last commentator mentioned the utterly destroyed and dysfunctional Haiti [ c/f Haiti "a beginners guide" http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=63354
Aristide's statement on going into exile March 6th 2004 http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=63727 Haiti (revision and introduction to intermediate guide module 2005)
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69911
]
and at the other extreme the Forbes list playground of Belize. Cuba is unique because it provides both a pension and social security service at all, especially one which combines cash with food with health care.
There are too many pensioners in the EU or the USA and especially in Ireland, the UK & Italy (which boast the highest income disparity of our continent [c/f http://www.indymedia.ie/article/71672 (an easy to understand map) ] who may complain about a boring diet or open the door on an empty fridge. Yet they do not make front page news.
Perhaps all socialist revolutions fail, that is their wonder. But I find strength in the words Hasta La Victoria Siempre! simply because no one revolution or no one state will ever achieve socialism. I believe that as an anarcho-syndicalist, as one of the libertarian socialist tradition, as an anarchist.
We move to Victory by bringing our own widows and pensioners empty fridges to the front page of our newspapers & helping the future generations to know that emptiness is the same- be it in Africa, Havana, Beirut or Donegal or Mayo or Carlow or wherever poor Irish widows live.
last link to article on how I broke the news on this site with comments which might interest some:-
Hi:
We recommend you visiting a new Links Directory on Cuba. We have several hundred links sorted by Categories.
http://www.cubawebdirectory.com
The sovereignty of CUBA must be respected
intellectuals of the world 08.08.2006 15:17
As a result of the communication of Fidel Castro on his state of health and the provisional delegation of his responsibilities, high ranking U.S officials have formulated more and more explicit declarations about the immediate future of Cuba. The Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutiérrez said that “this is the moment for a true transition towards a true democracy” and the spokesman of the White House Tony Snow said that his government is “ready and eager to grant humanitarian and economic assistance and of any other nature to the people of Cuba”, which has been already being stated by President Bush.
The “Commission for a free Cuba”, presided over by the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, had already pointed out in a report issued on June, “the urgency to work today to guarantee that the strategy of succession of the regime of Castro does not succeed” and President Bush indicated that this document “demonstrates we are working actively towards a change in Cuba, not just waiting for it to happen”. The Department of State has emphasized that the plan includes measures that will remain secret “for reasons of national security” and to assure its “effective accomplishment”.
It is not hard to imagine the character of such measures and the “announced assistance”, considering the militarization of the foreign policy of the present American administration and its performance in Iraq.
Given the increasing threat against the integrity of a nation, the peace and security of Latin America and the world we, the signatories listed below, demand that the government of the United States respect the sovereignty of Cuba. We must prevent a new aggression at all cost.
To sign:
http://www.porcuba.org
soberania@porcuba.org
Signed by, among others:
José Saramago, Portugal • Wole Soyinka, Nigeria; • Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Argentina • Dario Fo, Italy • Desmond Tutu, South Africa • Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemala • Nadine Gordimer, South Africa • Zhores Alfiorov, Russia • Noam Chomsky, USA • Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil • Harry Belafonte, USA • Mario Benedetti, Uruguay • Ignacio Ramonet, Spain-France • Danny Glover, USA • Samir Amin, Egypt • Alfonso Sastre, Spain • Francois Houtart, Belgium • Eduardo Galeano, Uruguay • Juan Gelman, Argentina • Frei Betto, Brazil • Pablo González Casanova, Mexico • Russell Banks, USA • Bernard Cassen, France • Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaragua • Angela Davis, USA • Ariel Dorfman, Chile • Tom Morello, USA • Walter Salles, Brazil • Manu Chao, France • Blanca Chancosa, Ecuador • Egberto Gismonti, Brazil • Alice Walker, USA • István Mészáros, Hungary • Fredric Jameson, USA • Jorge Enrique Adoum, Ecuador • Fernando Birri, Argentina • Leonardo Boff, Brazil • David Viñas, Argentina • Emilio Carballido, Mexico • José Luiz del Roio, Italy • Hebe de Bonafini, Argentina • Thiago de Mello, Brazil • Boaventura de Sousa, Portugal • Armand Mattelart, Belgium • William Blum, USA • Miguel Bonasso, Argentina • Chico Whitaker, Brazil; María Rojo, Mexico • Idea Vilariño, Uruguay • Belén Gopegui, Spain • Diamela Eltit, Chile • Atilio Borón, Argentina • Luciana Castellina, Italy • Ramsey Clark, USA • Luis Britto García, Venezuela • Stephen Rivers, USA • Miguel D’Escoto, Nicaragua • Stella Calloni, Argentina • Emir Sader, Brazil • Daniel Viglietti, Uruguay • Lucius Walker, USA • Piero Gleijeses, Italy- USA • James D. Cockcroft, USA • Aníbal Quijano, Peru • Theotonio dos Santos, Brazil • Pablo Guayasamín, Ecuador • Leonard Weinglass, USA • Susu Pecoraro, Argentina • Francisco de Oliveira, Brazil • Graciela Duffau, Argentina • Fernando Rendón, Colombia • Luis Sepúlveda, Chile • Fernando Pino Solanas, Argentina • Michael Löwy, Brazil • Pascual Serrano, Spain • Jorge Rufinelli, Uruguay • James Petras, USA; Keith Ellis, Jamaica- Canada • Tristán Bauer, Argentina...
Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has the wallet and the will to keep Cuban socialism running after his friend and role model dies.
As Cuba inches toward a post-Fidel existence, international attention has focused on the ailing leader and his brother Raul. But it's worth keeping an eye on Fidel's staunchest ally. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is likely to pour millions of petrodollars into keeping Cuba socialist.
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,43....html
It's worthy of note that the Cuban Communist Party supported Batista in the pre-revolutionary period, that it was NOT involved in the revolution itself and that Castro only committed himself to Communism sometime later. I never hear this mentioned.
I've been in Cuba and I speak Spanish.
The Cuban people are ill served by Castro's apologists, as they are by those with an attitude of "well they could be worse off."
I met one of Fidel's sons. He was in his 40's, had a mobile phone and a camera around his neck and a young blonde on his arm. This was at 3 in the morning in a nightclub with an entry fee equivalent to a months wages for one of my friends there. I saw military police accepting bribes, I saw sex tourism, I saw poverty, and I saw frustration. Lots of it. Simple things, like being arrested for talking to a tourist, or being able to move around the country are what most young people spoke about. It's a type of 'tourist apartheid., but I suppose it's okay if it 'protects them' and their 'social paradise'! The embargo is malicious and Castro is a repressive dictator. Why do so many people find it hard to disapprove of both?
I've read nothing here on this website about the Varela Project, a pro-democracy movement, which is 100 per cent Cuban, that refuses funding and assistance from the US, rejects the views of the Miami Mafia, wishes to keep the successes of the revolution in education and health, and is also seeking free-elections, a free press, human rights. Of course, they've gone very quiet since Castro threw most of them in jail.
& so?
She has a man who seized the chance to leave his country and live in europe where the education he received for free is well valued. Sure he could have gota green card?
if an iota of condemnation of poverty in any state justifies criticism of its leadership then consider that the UK, Ireland, USA and Italy occupy the top ten positions in child poverty and food poverty.
With the exception of Ireland, that means 3 of the G8 states, the most industrialised richest best developed states on the Planet also have the highest level of citizens who do not get enough nutrition. Italy sees more of her children under the age of 14 at work which often includes phsyical labour than any state of the former Warsaw Pact including Russia.
But people in the "free" world love to point at states like Cuba, when they could just look under the table cloth of their own prosperity.
I haven't heard about some of the "prisoners" of the "proyecto varela"... Oswaldo Payá, it's leader, is among other's "dissident's" free in the isle like a free bird. He receives daily the visit of many ingenuous that believes Cuba is a terrible dictadure... and are deceived of the simple reality the cuban revolution shows to everyone that's honestly concerned in Human Right's.
More than 2 000 000 tourists are visiting Cuba yearly, and they learn a lot about Liberty, Dignity and Solidarity... about the real Cuba
Freedom and Democracy Cuban style. The report in full plus other reports may be accessed at the Amnesty International Website.
Covering events from January - December 2005
Prisoners of conscience
René Gómez Manzano and Julio César López Rodríguez were detained, along with several others, in the capital Havana after participating in a peaceful anti-government demonstration on 22 July. René Gómez Manzano, a member of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society, and eight others remained imprisoned awaiting trial.
On 13 July around 20 people were detained while participating in a peaceful event in Havana. They were commemorating the “13 de Marzo” tugboat disaster of 1994, in which some 35 people were killed while attempting to flee Cuba when their boat was reportedly rammed by the Cuban authorities. Six remained in detention without charge and one was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for “peligrosidad predelictiva” defined as “a person’s special proclivity to commit offences as demonstrated by conduct that is manifestly contrary to the norms of socialist morality”.
Restrictions on freedom of expression, association and movement
Human rights activists, political dissidents and trade unionists were harassed and intimidated. Such attacks were frequently perpetrated by quasi-official groups, the rapid-response brigades, allegedly acting in collusion with members of the security forces.
Freedom of expression and association continued to be under attack. All legal media outlets were under government control and independent media remained banned. Independent journalists faced intimidation, harassment and imprisonment for publishing articles outside Cuba. Human rights defenders also faced intimidation and politically motivated and arbitrary arrests.
The laws used to arrest and imprison journalists, relating to defamation, national security and disturbing public order, did not comply with international standards. According to the international NGO Reporters Without Borders, 24 journalists were imprisoned at the end of 2005.
Funny how when amnesty have interesting things to day about human rights abuses in Amerikka and it's 51st-52nd states (Israel/UK) they are dismissed as biased/false but they're rolled out with a massive fanfare when it suits .
- Not that Cubas alleged violations come anywhere near those perpetrated by the septics and their associated acolytes.
"Funny how when amnesty have interesting things to day about human rights abuses in Amerikka and it's 51st-52nd states (Israel/UK) they are dismissed as biased/false"
By who? Certainly not by me.
Cuba is no Socialist paradise. Its a dictatorship. Good health system. Good education system. It should be defended against Imperialism and the Ecomomic Boycott should go. But dont pretend its a Workers Democracy.
To sign the campaign "La Soberanía de CUBA debe ser respetada":
http://www.porcuba.org
www.porcuba.org
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Other web's related with Cuba:
http://www.antiterroristas.cu
http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/patriotas/principal.htm
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/miami5/index.html
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/inocentes/index.html
http://www.freethecuban5.com
http://www.freethefive.org/
http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/ingles/index.html
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html
http://www.plenglish.com/
http://www.cubanow.net/
The Sovereignty of CUBA must be respected.
As a result of the communication of Fidel Castro on his state of health and the provisional delegation of his responsibilities, high ranking U.S officials have formulated more explicit statements about the immediate future of Cuba........
See http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/3939/1/203
Ed: Replaced cut+paste text with link above
This is not fidel and che in wax, but camilo and che.
Nada en Cuba es gratis ,todo el sudor de un pueblo lo colectan estos hp...comunistas...trabajan por menos de mil dolares al ano...lo que la revolucion dice que da es la sobra de lo que le quita al sumiso...pueblo.pregunten porque el pueblo se limpia el culo con hojas de platano,el papel es usado para cartelitos comunistas.todo el que habla bien de Fidel estan atacando al verdadero pueblo.
One can assume that after Fidel the movement for economic and political changes will intensify. Although there is free medical care and education for all, Cubans know that their country's standards of living are well below those of many states in Latin America. They could reform the economy in a Chinese way, but only if they invite Foreign Direct Investment and are a s successful in doing this as the Chinese. China is different because it had an industrial base before the communists led by Mao came to power. Cuba has very limited industrialization experience.