EXPECTING IMPRESSIVE MOVES IN CUBA

[Judi Lynn]

WEDNESDAY, 28 JANUARY 2004


EXPECTING IMPRESSIVE MOVES IN CUBA
Istanbul, 28 January 2004 (12:20 UTC+2)


A formal invitation will be extended to Cuban leader Fidel Castro to visit Mt. Athos, by Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos, in his letter thanking him for the warm welcome during his historic visit to Cuba, which opened up new horizons for Orthodoxy and Hellenism, both in this island country of the Caribbean, and throughout the American continent.

In a discussion with the press shortly before the landing of the “Olympic Airways” flight in Istanbul, the Ecumenical Patriarch mentioned the unexpectedly warm welcome he received from the Cuban government and its President Fidel Castro, as well as the pressures of the US.

“The Americans cannot be pleased, but we are not a party, we are not an ideology”, pointed out the Patriarch, asking those who continue insist on the embargo against Cuba: “What did the poor do, what did the children do, so as not to have medicines”, asked the Head of Orthodoxy. (snip)

According to statements of the public, they expect help from the Ecumenical Patriarch and Greece, not merely financial, but help with ideas, because it seems that Cuba is at the beginning of impressive openings. Evidence of this opening can be found both in the wish expressed by Fidel for books on Mt. Athos and Orthodoxy to be sent to Cuba, in order to be distributed to the country's schools and foundations, and in the invitation for the foundation of Theology School of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Havana, with the expenses to be covered by the Cuban State.
(snip/)

http://www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=430217

[Mika]

1. Another "Castro apologist"? A religious patriarch "Castro apologist"?

Next thing you know Vartholomeos will be extolling Cuba as a "bastion" of democracy. ;-)

[Osolomia]

2. Evidently members of the Democratic Party refuse to listen to a word said

time and time and time again, and prefer to spew their hatemongering propaganda with never a link to back up their claims, and attack anyone who challenges the ignorant bigotry as a "Castro apologist", with the blessing of an admitedly biased Admin. With Dems like that who needs Repubs?

Evidently the USA's free and underground press would rather not know what Bartholmew said, not to mention his major snub to the US ambassador in Havana.

Orthodox Church leader calls US embargo of Cuba a "historical mistake"
Sun Jan 25, 6:33 PM ET Add World - AFP to My Yahoo!

HAVANA (AFP) - The leader of the Orthodox Church branded the US embargo of Cuba a "historic mistake" in a sermon Sunday during the full pomp inauguration of a new cathedral in Havana with President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) in attendance.

... "The blockading of peoples and countries by society in general from other nations on earth is a historic mistake," said the patriarch, who is spiritual leader of the 300 million strong orthodox community worldwide.

"And the problems between nations and countries, like those between people, are resolved through dialogue," he added.

... During his sermon, while still outside the cathedral, the patriarch qualified sanctions against Cuba as a "historic mistake".

He said the Orthodox Church had come to the island "to speak frankly" of that error. The patriarch added that the solution to such differences came only "through communication, such as through faithful mediation."

The United States has enforced an economic embargo against Cuba since 1961.

.... Bartholomew I's speech came exactly six years after a visit to the communist island by Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II, head of the Roman Catholic church.

On January 25, 1998, the pope called on the world to open up to Cuba, and for Cuba to open up to the world.

After the sermon, Castro handed over the keys of the cathedral to the patriarch, who awarded the Cuban leader with a St Andrew's cross, symbolizing "justice and strength".

More...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1512&ncid=1512&e=1&u=/afp/20040125/wl_afp/cuba_religion_040125233341

So long as Dems insist on keeping their blinders firmly glued to their faces and ears plugged they're no better than the Bushistas.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Democrats love that Cuban-American money as much as the GOP

which is why Al Gore spoke against sending Elian Gonzales back to his father in Cuba, in effect endorsing Elian's kidnapping by his crazy Miami uncle.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Some might appreciate this comparison of stories on Robert Redford's trip

to Cuba in the last week:

(snip) Guevara film gets family approval

Staff and agencies
Wednesday January 28, 2004


Eye-opening journey: Rodrigo De la Serna and Gael Garcia Bernal in The Motorcycle Diaries

The Motorcycle Diaries, the account of Che Guevara's 1952 tour of Central America, has garnered the seal of approval from the revolutionary's surviving family.
The film's producer Robert Redford flew to Cuba last weekend for a private screening organised for the family and was rewarded when Guevara's widow, Aleida, said, "This film is excellent."

Based on Guevara's own memoirs, the film recreates an eye-opening, nine-month trip that he made as a 23-year-old medical student. The film is directed by Brazilian film-maker Walter Salles and stars Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal as the young Che.
(snip/...)
http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1133238,00.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(snip) Monday, January 26, 2004 8:18 PM


Redford shows Che Guevara film in Cuba

HAVANA - Robert Redford showed his new film about Che Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries, to the widow and children of the legendary guerrilla fighter on Sunday.


"I came to present the film that I produced on Che Guevara and I am very happy to be in Cuba," Redford told Reuters before the private screening at Havana's Charles Chaplin cinema.


He watched the film with Guevara's widow, Aleida March, son Camilo and daughters Celia and Aleidita, as well as Ramiro Valdes, a top military commander in Cuba's communist government who fought with Guevara and Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra mountains.


The film, directed by Brazilian Walter Salles, is based on the diaries Guevara wrote on a nine-month bike trip through South America in 1952 when he was an asthmatic 23-year-old medical student.
(snip/...)
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=CELEBRITY&oid=43261

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Redford: Tyranny's useful idiot

Posted: January 29, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com


Cuban dictator Fidel Castro wooed Robert Redford in Havana this week.

It was hardly necessary.

Redford has been doing Castro's bidding for years without being seduced by the tyrant of the Caribbean. (snip)

I have a few choice words for Redford and other Hollywood elites, such as Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Oliver Stone and Harry Belafonte, who have taken similar trips to pay homage to Castro.

Congratulations. You are the moral equivalents of people who gave aid and comfort to Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin.
(snip/...)
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36833

(google led me to this information on the third author, Joseph Farah:

(snip) WASHINGTON, April 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today reported that it has
received numerous hate-filled and threatening messages from the
readers of a right-wing Islamophobic Web site. The Washington-based
Islamic civil rights and advocacy group is working with the
Department of Justice to investigate those messages that contained
threats.

Some of the hate messages sent to CAIR from visitors to
Worldnetdaily.com include:

1) "I don't say kill (Muslims). But it would be a better world
without them!" 2) F--k you; and the one humped camel you rode in
on. 3) You are lower than snake sh-t. 4) islam is a scam to keep
people down...kill the infidels. f--k that kill muslims...f--k all
of you...and die real soon 5) Take the f--king towels off your
heads and join the human race, A--HOLES!!!! 6) Please leave My
Country...And leave it NOW! 7) Get out of America 8) I have been
encouraged by Joe Farah of WorldnetDaily to send this to
you...leave this nation and go back to the pile of cow manure you
all came from 9) It won't be long before the immigration police
will be there to help you go home to the cesspool you came from.
10) GO HOME! Wherever that is, it is not HERE!

CAIR officials say the hate-filled e-mails were prompted by a
number of Worldnetdaily.com articles demonizing Muslims and by
recent false charges made against CAIR by the site's editor, Joseph
Farah.
(snip/...)
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/qtr2_2003/0429-131.html)

[Judi Lynn]

5. A Healthy Exchange for Cuba and Global Exchange , interesting statistics

Cuba Health Exchange Program Kicks Off


A Healthy Exchange for Cuba and Global Exchange

Global Exchange
January 28, 2004
Jazmin Solorzano, Tim Kingston
Contact: Jazmin Solorzano
[phone] [e-mail]


For Immediate Release January 28, 2004 At a time when the Bush administration is terminating programs that encourage contact between U.S. and Cuban citizens, Global Exchange is launching a brand new program---Cuba Health Exchange. Cuba Health Exchange is dedicated to creating strong links between healthcare professionals from both countries. The development of innovative new technologies in health care is vital for both U.S. and Cuban citizens, so the new program aims to foster an exchange of medical ideas, knowledge and experiences.
"We are thrilled to be launching Cuba Health Exchange because it gives U.S. healthcare professionals a unique opportunity to understand Cuba's public health care system," said Jazmin Solorzano, Health Exchange coordinator. "The trips will foster academic and experiential exchanges that could lead to significant collaboration in this field."

The Health Exchange will focus on infant mortality, public health, neighborhood physician care, universal health care, natural and traditional healthcare practices and alternative drug treatments. Aside from being a resource for professionals to find information on such topics, Health Exchange will sponsor and organize several health conferences in Cuba in the coming year. The trips will help raise awareness about the Cuban health care system and the social impact of the US embargo on the lives of Cuban people, while also helping professionals make vital links with their counterparts in Cuba.

Cuban achievements in the health care field are impressive. According to UNICEF's 'State of the Worlds Children 2004,' Cuba's infant mortality rate is 6.3 deaths per 1000 live births, compared to Latin American nations with an average of 32.8 per 1000 births, and a U.S. rate of 7 per 1000 births. Cuba provides 100 percent free health care to all citizens, and has some of the best health indicators in all of Latin America, with about 1 doctor for every 170 people. Cuba also contributes to world health by sending 15,000 health professionals to serve in more than 64 countries in five continents.
(snip/...)

http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/1452.html

[robcon]

6. Health care is like Mussolini's "kept the trains running"

Like Mussolini, Castro oppresses his people with controlled press, political restrictions, arbitrary arrests, prison terms for dissent and a culture of rewards for informing on neighbors.

But Mussolini kept the trains running on time, like Castro has invested in health care - so many apologists give a free ride to Castro's undemocratic regime.

[Mika]

7. When did Mussolini's trains cure kids with cancer?

Comparing Mussolini's "kept the trains running" to Cuba's health care system is about as ridiculous as it can get.

Cuba's health care system is respected the world over (except by ignorant Americans).


Duers should take the time to read the following link I have posted at least a dozen times, in attempt to cajole robcon into actually reading about some of Cuba's world class health care advances so he/she doesn't continue to embarrass him/herself by making more uninformed unbased accusations against Cuba.

Learn from Cuba, says World Bank
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/learn.htm




Cuba's undemocratic regime? Travel banned Americans are the only people who can't go to Cuba to see their electoral system, as I had in 1997-98. Thank's for bringing it up for the 100th time, robcon.

http://www.poptel.org.uk/cuba-solidarity/democracy.htm

This system in Cuba is based upon universal adult suffrage for all those aged 16 and over. Nobody is excluded from voting, except convicted criminals or those who have left the country. Voter turnouts have usually been in the region of 95% of those eligible .

There are direct elections to municipal, provincial and national assemblies, the latter represent Cuba's parliament.

Electoral candidates are not chosen by small committees of political parties. No political party, including the Communist Party, is permitted to nominate or campaign for any given candidates.

--

Representative Fidel Castro was elected to the National Assembly as a representative of District #7 Santiago de Cuba.
He is one of the elected 607 representatives in the Cuban National Assembly. It is from that body that the head of state is nominated and then elected. Raul Castro, Carlos Large, and Ricardo Alarcon and others were among the nominated last year. President Castro has been elected to that position since 1976.

http://www.bartleby.com/65/do/Dorticos.html

Dorticós Torrado, Osvaldo

1919–83, president of Cuba (1959–76). A prosperous lawyer, he participated in Fidel Castro’s revolutionary movement and was imprisoned (1958). He escaped and fled to Mexico, returning to Cuba after Castro’s triumph (1959). As minister of laws (1959) he helped to formulate Cuban policies. He was appointed president in 1959. Intelligent and competent, he wielded considerable influence. In 1976 the Cuban government was reorganized, and Castro assumed the title of president; Dorticós was named a member of the council of state.

The Cuban government was reorganized (approved by popular vote) into a variant parliamentary system in 1976.

You can read a short version of the Cuban system here,
http://members.attcanada.ca/~dchris/CubaFAQ.html#Democracy

Or a long and detailed version here,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0968508405/qid=1053879619/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-8821757-1670550?v=glance&s=books

[robcon]

8. I'll take your post as if it's serious, Mika.

I'll accept on face value that you really don't understand the analogy, Mika. I'll explain it for you.

Apologists for Mussolini always said he added discipline to Italy - he kept the trains running on time - and that that softened (or made acceptable) his dictatorial regime in their eyes. The same can be said for apologists for Castro like you. You revert to Cuban medical care as if that excuses his political oppression and his gulag.

Is it clear now?

[Mika]

9. I can't take your post as serious

It would be clear, robcon, if Cuba were actually a gulag as you often claim.

But, Cuba isn't a gulag, so, your post comparing Mussolini's trains to Cuba's health care just doesn't make sense. On any level.

Castro doesn't run Cuba's health care system. No one has a world class health care system forced on them and their children. No one has a world class education system forced on them and their children. The Cuban people built those world class institutions because they wanted these things, and the post revolutionary government of Cuba was the first government in Cuba's history to help in that cause.

[robcon]

12. Cuba is not a gulag???????

Human Right Watch argues the opposite, Mika.

"...Human Rights Watch has been monitoring human rights conditions in Cuba for more than 15 years. Severe political repression has been constant throughout this time. Cuba has long been a one-party state. It has long restricted nearly all avenues of political dissent. It has long denied its people basic rights to fair trial, free expression, association, assembly, movement and the press. It has frequently sought to silence its critics by using short term detentions, house arrests, travel restrictions, threats, surveillance, politically motivated dismissals from employment, and other harassment. But this year's crackdown on political dissent in Cuba, in its scale and intensity, is the worst we've seen in a decade or more..."

http://hrw.org/doc/?t=americas&c=cuba

[Mika]

14. Then, America is too. We should clean up our own backyard first

If HRW is to be taken seriously, then we Americans have a lot of work to do before we can point our fingers at Cuba. We can determine our future, as Cubans can determine theirs.

http://www.google.com/search?domains=hrw.org&sitesearch=www.hrw.org&hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=usa

[Just Me]

21. "Apologists" is such a right-wing swing word,...

Why do you keep using that term?

[Mika]

25. Ain't it "funny"

Ain't it "funny" that DUers can call those of us who support the end to the embargo as "Castro apologists" wheras if any of us call DUers who support the embargo and anti Cuba rhetoric (currently bush policy) "bush policy apologists" then our posts get deleted.

I guess the Alert link only works for Bush policy apoligists on the Cuba threads.


"And the reason Cuba threads usually end up locked, is because they are usually pointless flaming." -Skinner

Black is white.



Sadly, only ONE candidate for
US president openly states that he
would end this unjust and insane
policy against Cuba AND Americans.

That candidate is Dennis Kucinich.

-The Democratic Presidential Candidates on Cuba-
http://www.lawg.org/pages/new%20pages/Misc/prez-candidates1.htm

[Turley]

10. Do you not find it odd

That the same guy gets elected over, and over and over, and over......?

Does this not set of any warning bells where you live?

Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, Cuba is a dictatorship disguised as a Democracy?

Thought ever cross your mind?

[Mika]

11. It crossed my mind before I went to Cuba. After my visits - no

I was a brainwashed American regarding Cuba before I went there for myself. I used to believe a lot of the gulag BS too. I used to believe that Castro ruled Cuba with an iron fist. Until I went there and had my eyes opened. I was shocked to learn that I had been hoodwinked by US anti Cuba propaganda. Cuba is NOTHING like the US government and the miamicuban exiles would have us believe.


Turley, I was in Cuba for an extended stay during the 1997-97 elections season. I saw democracy in action. Democracy that is more open and cleaner than elections in Florida (for example). If you had read over the links I have posted earlies, then you might have learned that Cuba has a parliamentary system of democracy. Cubans reorganized their system in 1976 by popular vote.


To suggest that the Cuban people are not capable of determining their own future, and/or that one man has ruled Cuba with an iron fist for 40+ years against their will, is outright ignorant & blatantly bigoted.

The Cuban people have proven, historically, their ability to quite readily overthrow any government of Cuba, including the brutal, fully US government and US organized crime backed Batista. To think that Cubans have just sat back after the revolution and allowed themselves to be dictated to is absurd. And an insult.

Does Castro force one of the best education systems with the highest literacy rate on Cuba's children? Does Castro force one of the best universal health care systems on the Cuban people, resulting in the lowest infant mortality rate and the highest longevity rate in the West? Does Castro force the Cuban people to submit to a representative parliamentary democratic system?

If you believe that Castro forces this on the Cuban people, then I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell ya.



Turley, don't you find it odd that "free" America bans its citizens from freely travelling to Cuba? Don't you find it odd that all the while, citizens of the whole wide world travel to Cuba, and every other country has diplomatic relations with Cuba except the USA.

[robcon]

13. ON the contrary, Mika.

Castro forces a police state on the Cuban people, with all the informers, suppression of dissent, arrests for political 'crimes,' and stifling of any possible alternative to Castro.

Your joke about the "parliamentary democratic system" was appreciated, though.

[Mika]

15. stifling of any possible alternative

Sigh.. I guess you've never heard of Oswaldo Paya, head of the Cuban Christian Democratic Party, who recently recieved a Nobel in Switzerland.

It is nice to live in a vacuum of information.. you can spew false accusations all over the place, and most uninformed and travel banned Americans look no further - satisfied.


Robcon, the joke is on us Americans - considering the winner takes all electoral system, hanging chads and now black box voting.

[robcon]

16. Of course I've heard of Paya.

Paya is a high enough profile dissident that he hasn't been arrested, and sentenced in sham trials, like the 10 librarians who made the mistake of allowing Cubans to see opposition writings. Paya is like Walesa in pre-1989 Poland - too high profile to be arrested.

Mika wrote: "It is nice to live in a vacuum of information."

I wouldn't know - how nice is it?

[Judi Lynn]

19. Here are some excellent questions and answers re: "independent" libraries

from a site for American actual librarians. This is excellent info. and I was delighted when I was lucky enough to see it, as it capably condenses material most Cuba watchers know already:

(snip) 2. What Are the "Independent Libraries"?

The "independent libraries" are private book collections in peoples'
homes. Mr. Kent and the right-wing Cuban-American propaganda outlets,
call them "independent libraries" and even "public libraries." These
"independent libraries" are one of a number of "projects" initiated
and supported by a virtual entity calling itself "Cubanet"
(www.cubanet.org) and an expatriate anti-Castro political entity
calling itself the Directorio Revolucionario Democratico Cubano. The
Cubanet website describes what the "independent libraries" are, how
they got started and who funds and solicits for them. The index page
says that the organization exists to "assist independent
sector develop a civil society..." This is the wording used in
both the Torricelli and the Helms Burton Acts, both of which require
that the US government finance efforts to subvert the Cuban society in
the name of strengthening "civil society." You will see on the "Who We
Are" page that Cubanet, located in Hialeah, Florida, is financially
supported by the National Endowment for Democracy, the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) and "private" "anonymous"
donors. The "exterior" representative of the "independent libraries"
is the Directorio Revoucionario Democratico Cubano, also located in
Hialeah.(5)

3. Who are the Independent Librarians?

You will read on the pages of Cubanet about the individual
"libraries" and their personnel. Not one of the people listed is
actually a librarian. Not one has ever been a librarian. Most,
however, are leaders or officers of various dissident political
parties, such as the Partido Cubano de Renovacion Ortodoxa and the
Partido Solidaridad Democratica. This is documented on Cubanet,
although Mr. Kent never mentions these party affiliations in his FCL
press releases. We know absolutely nothing about the principles,
programs or activities of these parties, or why they have been
allegedly targeted. We don't know whether their activities are lawful
or unlawful under Cuban law. Kent maintains that their activities are
solely related to their books - but in reality we have no idea whether
this is true and in fact, one of these "librarians" told one of our
ALA colleagues that this was not true! By using the terms
"beleaguered," "librarians" and the buzzwords "freedom of expression"
and "colleagues" Mr. Kent hopes to get the a priori support of
librarians who might not look beneath this veneer. After all, isn't
this the reason that the subcommittee will be considering their case
in the first place? But I wonder if ALA is willing to establish the
precedent that all politicians with private book collections who
decide to call themselves "librarians," are therefore our
"colleagues"?

4. Who funds Cubanet, the Directorio, and the "independent libraries"
- and why is this important?

A recent book entitled Psy War Against Cuba by Jon Elliston (Ocean
Press, 1999), reveals, using declassified US government documents, the
history of a small piece of the 40-year-old propaganda war waged by
our country against the government of Cuba. The US has spent hundreds
of millions of taxpayers' dollars over these years to subvert and
overthrow the current Cuban government - US activities have included
complete economic embargo, assassinations and assassination attempts,
sabotage, bombings, invasions, and "psyops." When even the fall of
the Soviet Union and the devastation of the Cuban economy in the early
1990's did not produce the desired effect, the US embarked on
additional, subtler, campaigns to overthrow the Cuban government from
within. One element of this approach is the funneling of monetary
support to dissident groups wherever they can be found, or created.
This includes bringing cash into the country through couriers such as
Mr. Kent, and increasing support to expatriate groups operating inside
the US, such as the Directorio, Cubanet and especially, the Cuban
American National Foundation (CANF) The website Afrocubaweb
(www.afrocubaweb.org) has gathered information from the Miami Herald
and other sources to document the recipients of this US funding.
USAID, a US government Agency, supported the Directorio Revolucionario
Democratico Cubano to the amount of $554,835 during 1999. This is
the group that supports the "independent librarians" in Cuba and is
listed as their "foreign representative." The money that they send to
Cuba, as well as the "small amounts" of cash that Mr. Kent carried
illegally to Cuba violates Cuban law, which does not allow foreign
funding of their political process. Neither does the United States
allow foreign funding of its own political process - the furor around
alleged Chinese "contributions" to the Democratic Party is a case in
point. The "independent libraries" may be independent of their own
government, but they are not independent of the US government. The US
government is not the only anti-Castro entity that has adjusted its
policy to changing times-- the most right-wing forces in the Cuban
expatriate community have also stepped up their support of dissident
elements inside Cuba over the last few years. The Miami Herald
reported in September 2000 that "the leading institution of this
city's exile community plans to quadruple the amount of money it sends
to dissident leaders on the island..." This leading institution is the
Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), and the article reports
that part of the group's $10,000,000 budget will begin "flowing to the
island through sympathetic dissidents by the end of the year." More
specifically, CANF will, among other declared activities, "increase
funds to buy books for its independent libraries."(6)

5. What is CANF? What is its record on free expression, intellectual
freedom, and democratic rights here in the USA?

The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) was founded by Jorge
Mas Canosa, a veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion and CIA operative,
at the behest of the Reagan administration in 1982. It has become the
most wealthy and powerful voice of the right-wing Cuban community in
South Florida and has wielded extraordinary political power for the
last twenty years. It has been connected to violence and terrorism
both in Cuba and in Miami. Its newest tactic, as described above, is
to "support" dissidents in Cuba, including buying books for
"independent" libraries, presumably to support "freedom of expression"
in Cuba. Mr. Kent and Mr. Sanguinetty claim to be proponents of human
rights and frequently refer to the "landmark" IFLA "report." But they
seem to have no problem with their libraries' CANF connection, even
though CANF was the subject of a truly "landmark" report issued by
Americas Watch, a division of Human Rights Watch, in 1992. The
Americas Watch report on CANF is the first that organization ever
issued against a human rights violator in a city of the United States.
It states that "a 'repressive climate for freedom of expression' had
been created by anti-Castro Cuban-American leaders in which violence
and intimidation had been used to quiet exiles who favor a softening
of policies toward Cuba."(7) The executive director of Americas Watch
at that time, said "We do not know of any other community in the
United States with this level of intimidation and lack of freedom to
dissent."(8) The report documents "how Miami Cubans who are opposed
to the Cuban government harass political opponents with bombings,
vandalism, beatings and death threats."(9) A campaign spearheaded by
CANF against the Miami Herald in the early nineties resulted in
bombings of Herald newpaper boxes and death threats to staff.(10)
Pressure from CANF closed the Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture because
it showed work by artists who had not "broken" with Cuba.(11) Anyone
who followed the Elian Gonzalez case this past year noted that
tolerance for dissenting views by Cuban Americans was completely
lacking in Florida and a hostile atmosphere was maintained by CANF
during the duration of the affair. Can you imagine what the life
expectancy of a pro-Castro "independent library" in the middle of
Little Havana would be, given this history? CANF does not respect
freedom of expression or democratic rights in the USA, yet it is a
direct financial supporter of Mr. Kent's independent libraries.
Neither Mr.Kent nor Mr. Sanguinetty have disowned this support - in
fact they haven't even mentioned it! They have not chosen to examine
or criticize the lack of free expression among the very people that
give them succor and publicity here at home, yet they claim to be its
great champions in Cuba!
(snip/...)

http://www.lisnews.com/article.php3?sid=20010314225701

On edit:

"Thank you" to Osolomia for running down this superior article.

[blindpig]

18. no, I dont find it odd

but then, I live in South Carolina where the voters returned a zombie(Strom) to office gods know how many times. You're other point may apply, however.

[Judi Lynn]

20. Mika, whatever happened to loud, nasty CANF spokesmen like Dennis Hays?

He hasn't been around to fling his smarmy insults at anti-embargo Americans, lately.

Can't imagine what ELSE he's prepared to do in life, however. He seems like a one-trick pony.

Probably put out to pasture as another Bacardi lobbyist.

[Mika]

17. On "Castro apologists"

Cuba's gains in social systems have been given the highest marks by many global organizations, that many posters have linked to here on DU.


Its interesting that I am somehow branded as a "Castro apologist" in light of the hundreds of my posts that exclaim that Castro does not run Cuba's world class institutions like their health care and education systems. How am I an apologist for Castro when I say that Castro doesn't run their systems?


It seems that those who accuse Castro of dictating everything in Cuba are actually the apologists of Castro - in light of Cuba's excellent marks in education and health care. Cuba has these world class systems, but according to those who accuse me of being the castro apologist, Castro is responsible for the high quality of health care and education in Cuba.

Just who are the Castro apologists?

[Judi Lynn]

22. I think it's a sneaky attempt to call anti-embargo Americans "communists"

from people who recognize how crude and stupid it is to try to drag readers back to the 1950's by labelling others as "communists," in order to discredit them.



Help, help. Don't send us to the '50's, gusano posters.

[Just Me]

23. "Castro apologists" is an unacceptable red herring,...

,...and I object to such right-wing-like terminology. I am sick of the demonization that goes on and on and on and which produces nothing but further conflict, generating no genuine aim towards advancing human potential.

On the other hand, Mika, I appreciate your candor in sharing real life experiences in Cuba. Those are the experiences which open doors, in my humble view. I thank you for your contribution to my perspective about issues involving Cuba.

[Judi Lynn]

24. Pssst. Interested in seeing some declassified papers?

Trying to straighten out my Cuba articles, collected over the time since Elián Gonzalez was taken hostage by his drunken great uncle in Miami, I ran across something I believe might be valuable to D.U. posters who are interested in getting a clearer picture of US-Cuba relations.

Found out about this around 2000, from a poster at the old CNN US-Cuba Relations message board, and it was fascinating, as it filled in a great big hole where information should have been, but wasn't.

(snip) Washington D.C.: The National Security Archive today posted a selection of secret Cuban government documents detailing Cuba's policy and involvement in Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. The records are a sample of dozens of internal reports, memorandum and communications obtained by Piero Gleijeses, a historian at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, for his new book, Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976 (The University of North Carolina Press).

Peter Kornbluh, director of the Archive’s Cuba Documentation Project, called the publication of the documents “a significant step toward a fuller understanding Cuba’s place in the history of Africa and the Cold War,” and commended the Castro government’s decision to makes its long-secret archives accessible to scholars like Professor Gleijeses. “Cuba has been an important actor on the stage of foreign affairs,” he said. “Cuban documents are a missing link in fostering an understanding of numerous international episodes of the past.”

Conflicting Missions provides the first comprehensive history of the Cuba's role in Africa and settles a longstanding controversy over why and when Fidel Castro decided to intervene in Angola in 1975. The book definitively resolves two central questions regarding Cuba's policy motivations and its relationship to the Soviet Union when Castro astounded and outraged Washington by sending thousands of soldiers into the Angolan civil conflict. Based on Cuban, U.S. and South African documents and interviews, the book concludes that:

• Castro decided to send troops to Angola on November 4, 1975, in response to the South African invasion of that country, rather than vice versa as the Ford administration persistently claimed;
  
  
• The United States knew about South Africa's covert invasion plans, and collaborated militarily with its troops, contrary to what Secretary of State Henry Kissinger testified before Congress and wrote in his memoirs.
  
  
• Cuba made the decision to send troops without informing the Soviet Union and deployed them, contrary to what has been widely alleged, without any Soviet assistance for the first two months. (snip)

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB67/

[peacetalksforall]

26. There is a Cuban people issue and there is a Castro issue

Please make the distinction.

To support the People of Cuba does not mean that anyone is an apologist for Castro.

Even the passion filled haters of Castro living in this country love their relatives - they send billions of money to them each year. (Sending billions of dollars to them is preferable to listening to the pleas of the Pope, the leader of this Orthodoxy, Canada, Mexico, and dozens of other countries.

Castro hating Cuban-Americans hold us hostage because of their hate for that man. We are held with disdain because of our Castro policy.

The more Cuban Americans hate, the more reason we find to realize that there is no reason under God's sun, to punish the People of Cuba. Since the USSR pulled out and abandoned Cuba and since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Castro has slowly changed - AND HE IS NO WORSE THAN MANY OTHER LEADERS THAT OUR ADMINISTRATIONS ADORE, PROPR UP, COURT, PAY, and KILL FOR. Repeat - NO WORSE. GOT THAT? Compare Amnesty Internaional check lists.

Our leaders love the hate and the irrationality BECAUSE THEY MAKE A LOT OF MONEY OFF THE HATE! Your tax money.

[Just Me]

27. If we preclude the possibility that people can change,...

,...how can we ever believe that the world will ever get any better? We can't!!! We become the obstacle,...because we prove we are stuck-in-the-glue cynics, every bit as obnoxious as those "freepers" we have decidedly condemned as an "enemy". Geez. We simply cannot fail to observe "the facts" in the present and fail to acknowledge the actions of those who are demonstrating an election to CHANGE, which is an example of the greatest human strength.

If we are unwilling to embrace and REWARD demonstrable "change",...we will not only be stuck; but, we will be aiding and abetting the shoveling of a deeper hole to bury human potential.

We are better than that!!!