04/01/2010 -- Here is a uniquely 21st Century way to describe human freedom, from a young woman who has had the courage to openly declare it to the world, in the face of a horrifying political system that has systematically propagated, and cruelly imposed the exact opposite on her people for half a century now!
Because she is only 37 years old, one can say without contradiction, that Fidel Castro and communism, and now the ongoing communist regime of his brother Raul, have had an unrelenting choke hold on Cuba, fully 13 years longer than she has even been alive!
So . . . the communists and all their little apparatchiks too, must be wondering, "Where does this come from?"
Simple. It's written in the code.
* The photo is from TIME, one that is featured on her Twitter account, here.
02/25/2010 -- You really have to wonder about the motivation – or, lack thereof – underscoring a story out of Cuba, a story running exactly one line in length.
Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a 42-year-old plumber and bricklayer, stopped eating solid food Dec. 3 to protest what he described as repeated beatings by guards and many other abuses at his Kilo 7 prison in the eastern province of Camagüey.
Active in several dissident organizations, he had been arrested in 2003 amid a government crackdown that sentenced 75 government critics to lengthy prison terms, and Amnesty International declared him a "prisoner of conscience."
Initially charged with contempt, public disorder and "disobedience" and sentenced to three years, he was convicted of other acts of defiance while in prison, and by the time of his death faced a total of 36 years in prison.
So, more to the curious point addressed in the single line of that Reuter's dispatch, above, for exactly what reason did Raul Castro express regret?
One wonders if his "regret" could be over the fact that the nation he currently leads detains and imprisons people for voicing criticism of the central government – as it has always done?
Of course not.
Was it that he regretted that Mr. Tamayo was beaten while in prison?
Of course not.
The Cuban government not only beats prisoners jailed for political control reasons, it even sends out its State Security thugs to exact official revenge on its own people, right in the streets of the island nation. They seek out and beat people for merely speaking out, or even just attending rallies!
Just this past November, they kidnapped and physically beat a courageous young woman blogger by the name of Yoani Sánchez who posts her blog, "Generación Y" on the portal, "Desde Cuba". As she thereafter posted back in November, the State Security thugs rounded her and two other friends up, threw them in cars, and she and her friend Rinaldo were subjected to a severe beating.
Thereafter -- a few days later -- Yoani turned the tables on the thugs and she actually took photos of them as they were officially hanging around her home spying on her, and she posted their photos on her blog. That took a special kind of courage that none of us will likely ever be able to display.
As for the events surrounding the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, here is how Mr. Castro’s comments were reported in The Times (of London)in a story entitled, Death of dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo leads to clampdown in Cuba:
Raúl Castro, the Cuban President, issued an unprecedented statement expressing regret for the death of a dissident. "Raúl Castro laments the death of Cuban prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died after conducting a hunger strike," he said.
The night of Tamayo's death, Yoani Sánchez traveled to the location where the autopsy of Mr. Tamayo was being conducted, and she spoke to his grieving mother, giving her the opportunity to make a statement for the record.
Here was what Reina Luisa Tamayo Dangier said (it is in Spanish, and the video quality is unfortunately poor because of the lighting).
Yoani published the full translation on her site, from which it is clear that Tamayo's mother obviously wanted to encourage people to attend her son's wake, and that she believed he was murdered. She said in part:
. . .
"We will leave for Banes, Holguin Province, Embarcadero road, house number six, where we will hold the wake before our family altar, at my home, for as long as required.
I want to tell the world about my pain. I think my son’s death was a premeditated murder. My son was tortured throughout his incarceration. His plight has brought me great pain and has been excruciating for the entire family. Even, as he was transferred to this prison, he was first held in Camaguey without drinking water for 18 days. My son dies after an 86-day hunger strike. He is another Pedro Boitel for Cuba.
. . . ."
Having posted the video of Reina Luisa Tamayo Dangier's comments regarding her son's death on February 23rd, it seems a bit unusual that Yoani Sánchez has since gone silent. Hopefully she will post more information soon.
As for Raúl Castro, do not hold your breath for any further explanation about what he regrets. But I think we can rest assured that it had nothing to do with what he and his brother should be regretting -- such as putting people in jail for years for disagreeing with the government, or for "disobedience!" What he should regret, but never will, is the horror they have wrought on this island nation and its people over the past half a century!
Voices of Freedom Attacked Yoani Sánchez & Orlando Luis Pardo Beaten in Cuba
UPDATES, 3:00 pm, 342 pm, 11/09/09, below: NBC News is reporting that last Friday, Yoani Sánchez, the Cuban "Generation Y" blogger and a few of her friends, including Orlando Luis Pardo, were physically detained last Friday by the Cuban state security officials, and she and Pardo were then beaten. More from the Miami Herald, here.
Sánchez and Pardo were singled out from their small group, shoved in a car, and were physically beaten by the officials -- which she later described as the employment of "professional violence." The two of them were then reportedly driven around for about 20 minutes, and only then released.
At the time they were first accosted and detained, the state security thugs warned a few concerned onlookers off, claiming that Sánchez and Pardo were "counter-revolutionaries." They and a few other friends were being physically prevented at the time from attending what was to be a mild anti-violence demonstration. It is a familiar tactic of totalitarian communist regimes. All too familiar for those who remember the Cold War.
Obviously, the Cuban regime did not want the powerful messenger that Yoani Sánchez has become, delivering a description of events at the demonstration. When Sánchez and Pardo challenged the authority of the "officials" who had detained them, demanding identification and warrants, the officials called in for orders. Apparently having received the go-ahead, the "officials" then proceeded to physically attack and beat the two of them in the back of a vehicle.
Sánchez later described the incident here on her blog, which she entitled "A gangland style kidnapping." Prepare to be outraged as you read it.
A few months ago, we included a link here to her translated site on our blog roll, as have many American bloggers. And inspired by her courage and her skill as a writer, we also posted a quotation from her website on our site.
"After speaking your mind, you can't one fine day return to silence."
Where, one wonders, is the public voice of outrage from our State Department, whose motto is Diplomacy in Action? After all, has the Secretary of State not been attending the celebration ceremonies marking 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall?
At this past Friday's State Department press briefing, there was no mention of the incident regarding Yoani Sánchez, as it was apparently too soon. But as of this writing, nothing has yet been posted on the website of the Department of State about the matter.
The topic index at the official website of the Secretary of State (located at the top) has no entree for "freedom of speech" -- none. And if you look under the broader topic of "civil rights" all recent posts there are about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender pride month issues.
Nothing about free speech. Too old-fashioned?
Then, if you look under country-by-country postings, the latest posting indexed for some mention of "Cuba" was for the daily briefing on October 26th, but it only mentioned Guantanamo Bay.
As for recent official State Department press releases on Cuba, as of this writing, there are none since September.
Finally, one wonders, where is the voice of the President of the United States, if his Secretary of State insists on remaining silent?
Will he speak up for freedom of speech?
Will he condemn the official violence in Cuba against a few lonely and courageous voices, including a brave young woman who has now been administered an official beating by the thugs the President says he is trying to engage?
UPDATE, 3:00 pm, 11/09/09: And speaking of voices that should be speaking out, where is the voice of United States Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who was born in New York, a child of Cuban immigrants? At least as of this writing, even he has remained silent.
UPDATE II: 3:42 pm, 11/09/09: Now there is a brand new interview with Yoani Sánchez, by Jose Simian found here at MEDIAite . . . where she describes in additional detail exactly what happened last Friday (ht, Big Government found here).
During the interview, Yoani also addresses what she sees as the fears of the repressive Cuban regime in attempting to deal with the internet phenomenon.
Please read the whole thing, but here is just an example of her thought:
"I don't think they are afraid of me, because I'm just a little person that they can easily eliminate. What they are afraid of is the phenomenon of the alternative blogosphere, the phenomenon that more and more young people are projecting their voices: that is tremendously contagious. This is why they may be attempting to make a sort of 'prevention,' applying some sort of vaccine, so the blogger virus, the virus of opinions, does not spread. I don't think their attack is against the person of Yoani Sánchez, but rather against the blogger phenomenon, a phenomenon of different opinions that is taking place in Cuba. They want to paralyze as many people as possible with a preventive strike."
" ... It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?"
"Major Wilkinson, this is a glorious day for our country."
-- General George Washington, December 26, 1776, at Trenton
"Seas roll and months pass between the order and the execution; and the want of a speedy explanation of a single point is enough to defeat a whole system."
"Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors."
-- Thomas H. Huxley
"Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk."
-- Henry David Thoreau, upon suspecting his milkman was watering it down.
"Really, the truth is everybody wants to tell their story."
-- Lawrence Wright, September 23, 2007, author of The Looming Tower asked by Sean Hannity why jihadis and their supporters were so willing to be interviewed for his book.
"I believe in having an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out."
-- Grace Murray Hooper, "Amazing Grace" - Mathematician, computer scientist & programming pioneer, Rear Admiral, U.S Navy, patriot, quoted by, Tropp, Henry S. "Grace Hopper: The Youthful Teacher of Us All." Abacus 2 (Fall 1984): p. 18 (ht, Wikipedia).
"For why should my liberty be subject to the judgment of someone else’s conscience?"
-- Paul of Tarsus, The Bible, 1st Letter to the Corinthians 10:29
"Every dollar spent by government is one less dollar spent by taxpayers."
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it."
-- Mark Twain, American Humorist, Writer, and Lecturer, as quoted here.
"I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must, sooner or later, destroy liberty, or civilisation, or both.
... Either the poor would plunder the rich, and civilisation would perish; or order and property would be saved by a strong military government, and liberty would perish."
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay, British Historian and Whig Politician, in an 1857 letter to an American friend as quoted here, ht, here.
04/01/2010 -- Here is a uniquely 21st Century way to describe human freedom, from a young woman who has had the courage to openly declare it to the world, in the face of a horrifying political system that has systematically propagated, and cruelly imposed the exact opposite on her people for half a century now!
