Category: Rafael Leon Rodriguez

Community of Latin America and Caribbean States / Rafael León Rodríguez

Image from http://www.adelante.cu/

The Second CELAC Summit ended in Havana this January 29th with more pain for Cuban protestors and the population than glories for the anti-democratic authorities, despite the praise received by the hosts of the for the most part satisfied and grateful visitors from Latin America and the Caribbean.

A few leaders from the hemisphere saved the dignity of democracy and in their speeches valued the human rights of all and for all. But the highest note hit in this regard was that of the Secretary General of the United Nations, his excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, during a press conference, in which he pointed out some details of his conversations with the patriarchs of the island. In these, he said, he referred to the ratification of the United Nations Covenants on civil and political and economic, social and cultural rights by the Cuban government, who already signed them in 2008, and invited them to advance the theme of human rights in general.

The estimable presidents, prime ministers and Heads of Delegations at the meeting forgot, apparently, that on 11 September 2001, in Lima, Peru, the representatives of their governments in those moments, signed the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which in its Article 3 states:

“There are essential elements of representative democracy, among others, with respect to human rights and fundamental freedoms; the access to power and its exercise and its exercise within the rule of law; the celebration of regular, free, fair elections, based on universal and secrete suffrage as an expression of the sovereignty of the people; the plural regime of political parties and organizations; and the separation and independence of the public powers.”

It is not a coincidence that the Cuban regime is the only one among the 33 that make up CELAC that doesn’t recognize the political opposition in Cuba; discriminated against those who disagree with its authoritarian practices; arbitrarily detains peaceful opponents; violates the rights of assembly and peaceful association, among many others and maintains a real totalitarian power over society. The members of CELAC call this permissibility “unity in diversity” to save the consequent ignominy.

Another intelligent and interesting figure used in the statements and in the founding texts of CELAC, to justify the status quo of some undemocratic regime participants is that of “non-interference,” which on occasion converts, somehow “respectful of the sovereignty of others” into complicity with totalitarian states. Thus, in the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, in point 3 it points out:

“The commitment of the States of the region in strict compliance with their obligation not to intervene, directly or indirectly, in the internal affairs any other state and observe the principles of national sovereignty, equal rights and self-determination of peoples. “

Some sectors of Cuban civil society wanted to conduct a meeting where citizens of different political viewpoints would analyze the founding documents of  CELAC. This has not been possible, to date, because of the action of the political police. If the authorities of the island, as would be logical, issued the Declaration of Havana in full, so that it could become known by Cuban citizens, then we, the opponents, would have one more document to discuss and on which to rule democratically. Let no one doubt it.

1 February 2014

To the Sound of Canons / Rafael Leon Rodriguez

The new year 2014 was welcomed in Havana by the sound of canons. Twenty-one of them, so that the recent arrival would experience its first fright. In other parts of the globe, the authorities and the citizens welcomed it with fireworks, parties, hymns and songs. But here, to reaffirm that the old soldiers prefer old canons, pointed those from the La Cabaña fort, as always, at the city.

2013 left us in a December marked by the physical passing of Nelson Mandela, the South African Madiba who, after long suffering, finally rested. The official ceremony for his death coincided with the celebration of Human Rights Day. The football stadium in Johannesburg wasn’t big enough for the thousands of compatriots and representatives from all the world who went to pay a well-deserved tribute.

In heartfelt words, the secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, said there, “Mandela hated hatred. Mandela loved peace. Mandela showed a great capacity to forgive. It is everyone’s job to keep Mandela’s memory alive in our hearts.”

In Cuba this past month witnessed the unusual first non-unanimous public vote in the National Assembly. Probably responding to a script prepared in advance, but even so, it was interesting. The general-president had repeatedly referred to the need to end the formal unanimity of voting in the Assembly. But it was difficult for some deputy from his or her own free will to take the initiative. And this is because, lamentably, there still do not exist in this Assembly deputies who represent themselves.

The new labor code was approved by this legislature, giving the green light to the 20th Congress of the official Cuban Workers Center (CTC). As always, everything was approved, among which was the budget for the current year, 2014.

Now in this year, during the commemoration of the 55th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution, celebrated in Santiago de Cuba on January 1, the general-president said in his speech “and I quote”: (…) to directly consult with the population on decisions for the development of society… “end of quote.”

So we ask ourselves: Why not consult with the people in a plebiscite about whether they prefer a multi-party system to the dictatorship of a single political party? And if, as he reaffirmed, this continues to be a revolution of the humble, for the humble and by the humble, presumably, as in al lthese years, some humble will continue being more humble than others, some equals more equal than others.

As so to begin this new year, we have the government declaration that the Revolution continues with more of the same after 55 years and, to ratify it, the police arrested several people from civil society for attempting to give toys to children on Three Kings Day.

What else could we expect after that twenty-one gun salute from the canons of yore.

7 January 2014

Humanitarian Demand / Rafael León Rodríguez

  1. In recent weeks we have heard some information in the United States media about the possibility of selling medicines produced in Cuba in that country, particularly Heberprot-P, a drug for the treatment of diabetic foot. On the other hand, the Cuban authorities continue to express themselves about the obstacles facing them in buying certain medications and medical instruments produced in the US, due to the restrictions occasioned by the politics of the US embargo on the island.
  2. There are different opinions about this issue, both for and against, dismissing the urgencies of those priorities which should be considered: the diabetics in the United States who could be treated with Heberprot-P avoiding, in some cases, dangerous amputations of their extremities, and of patients in Cuba who can’t access treatments to cure them or to improve their quality of life because some medications and specialized instruments produced in the U.S. can not be purchased by Cuba.
  3. Faced with any discussion on this issue, it is important to take into account Articles 12 and 15 of the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the “Declaration on the Use of Scientific and Technological Progress in the Interests of Peace and for the benefit of humanity,” among other things.
  4. For all these reasons, the undersigned, Cubans and Cuban Americans, members of independent civil society and citizens in general, affirm our determination to support, from a vision of respect for human rights, the possible analysis that would permit the expansion of everything related to scientific exchanges in the areas of drug development and medical techniques. Also, the marketing of medicines and specialized instruments for these purposes, in order to meet the medical care needs of people who need to be treated in both countries.

Julio Aleaga Pesant — Independent Journalist
Hildebrando Chaviano Montes — Independent Journalist
Manuel Cuesta Morúa — Progressive Arc
Siro del Castillo Domínguez — Solidarity with Cuban Workers
Gisela Delgado Sablón — Independent Libraries
Eduardo Díaz Fleitas — Pinar del Rio Democratic Alliance
Reinaldo Escobar Casas — Independent Journalist
René Hernández Bequet — Cuban Christian Democratic Party
Rafael León Rodríguez — Cuba Democracy Project
Susana Más Iglesias — Independent Journalist
Eduardo Mesa — Emmanuel Mounier Center
Marcelino Miyares Sotolongo — Cuban Christian Democratic Party
Héctor Palacios Ruiz — Liberal Union of the Republic of Cuba
Oscar Peña — Cuban Pro Human Rights Movement
Pedro Pérez Castro — Solidarity with Cuban Workers
Rosa María Rodríguez Torrado — Cuba Democracy Project
Wilfredo Vallín Almeida — Cuban Law Association

21 November 2013

Oscar Espinosa Chepe / Rafael Leon Rodriguez


Imagen from: http://www.aktuality.sk/

I met Chepe one afternoon when we both just happened to be at the home of Elizardo Sanchez. It was the end of the decade of the ’90s of the last century, and our organization, the Cuban Democracy Project, along with others of various political stripes, were working to put together a program of economic, social and political openings, called “Common Platform.”

This, once it was completed, was sent to Cuban governemnt authorities propsing to them its implementation.

Oscar Espinosa Chepe collaborated, from his expertise as an economist, with a group called Table of Reflection of the Moderate Opposition. With measured conduct, cheerful, respectful and modest, he combined within himself the qualities that made him deserving, in the words of Cubans of old, of being called “a decent person.”

A sharp critic of the systemic blunders that afflict the so-called Cuban socialism, Chepe suffered the intolerance of the Castro regime when he was imprisoned during the Black Spring of 2003. His death, which occurred in Spain on Monday, September 23, after a long, painful and irreversible illness, deprived our nation of one of its most capable and committed sons, and for those who knew him, of a fair and cordial friend.

Rest in Peace

24 October 2013

A Platform That Honors and Involves Us / Rosa Maria Rodriguez

Christian Democrat Organization of America

My husband Rafael León Rodríguez, who is the Coordinator of the Cuban Democratic Project (Prodecu), was invited months in advance to participate in the 20th Congress of the Christian Democrat Organization of America (ODCA) held in Mexico August 23-24. It was the first time that there was a real chance to attend an event of the institution we have belonged to for more than fifteen years along with three others — two in the diaspora and one, like us, in Cuba — in which we have always been represented by good friends who live in Miami and who have attended regularly and with solidarity on our behalf.

On July 22 we initiated the process at the Mexican embassy and for this left the formal invitation sent by Senator Jorge Ocejo, president of this hemispheric organization and his personal data. From that point we started the anxious rush-rush with a great number of comings and going to the embassy with growing concern that the Cuban authorities would “pass the buck” to the obstacles in the Aztec consulate to block the trip out of exhaustion or helplessness, and they themselves would remain blameless.

From there, there were lost papers and even disparate conditions for the awarding of permission, but finally they granted it a month later, thanks the tenacity of the ODCA board and our representatives in Miami, which managed to overcome the different and several obstacles that arose. On 22 August in the morning, after great uncertainty and agitation, they put the visa in the passport and at night, almost with our “tongues hanging out” we left for Mexico.

It was just four days — two of the Congress — that let us escape a cold discourse on paper with a signature, to present ourselves there and interact with the delegations of other parties, NGOS and institutions of our American Social Christian family. Respectful and effusive handshakes, expressions of solidarity and big hugs were eloquent recognition for the work of 17 years within Prodecu Cuba, despite the political cannibalism sustained by the dictatorial Cuban government for more than fifty years.

The board of the ODCA was reelected for another term, including its executive secretary, Mr. Francisco Javier Jara — and the most notorious jump for the two Democratic Christian organizations located in Cuba that belong to this regional organization, was that as of this year we are honorary vice-presidents in this prestigious continental organization.

Now what is left to us is the journey consistent to honoring this continued recognition with a sustained and viable work in support of achieving the two dearest longings urgent for Cuba: the completion of our nation and the final democratization of our country.

17 September 2013

Cuba 360 / Rafael Rodriguez

Civic political project “Cuba 360”

For years we have we have been getting on with the opposition movement and we have never left off giving our support, however modest, to the cause of the democratisation of Cuba. It is a constant focus maintained by all those who are involved in the destiny of our country, in spite of the multiple difficulties we have to deal with in developing our work.

It is evident to us how slow it is for our work to actually germinate as a result of the continuous boycotting by the political police, but even so we never stop fertilising and watering our seed for the good of the nation. this time we are drawing up a programme with a multidimensional architecture with the aim of achieving the intercommunication and respectful debate between Cubans and the sustained and total articulation with the civil society in general by way of the executive project “Seedbed”.

With this project we try to outline to people what is our constructive and legitimate message – like all democratic opposition tries to do – to demonstrate to them the different alternatives of hope and reconciliation which exist in and for Cuba.

One option for Cuban society is  simulation, indolence, emigration and irresponsible obedience and, as we indicate in the project, another is the ambitious objective of “transforming each subject into one who acts out his own personal and national destiny.”

Here I leave you with the link to read the promotional brochure of “Cuba 360.”

Translated by GH

1 May 2013

Fiftieth Anniversary of the Missile Crisis / Rafael Leon Rodriguez

Image from “http://www.bbc.co.uk”

The final days of that October were grim. At the beach, the rough seas spilled over the sand blowing in the wind. The militia dug trenches, so close to the coast, that their walls caved in. Guanabo was desolate, more so than normal for that time of year, and the locals who stayed after the evacuation of the last few hours did not understand the magnitude of the drama that was evolving in our archipelago. The Cuban rRevolution, the one that claimed to the world that it was so pure, independent and mighty like the palm trees, had just been undressed by the spy planes from North America. The photos of soviet specialists secretly installing the nuclear missiles around the island were seen by the entire world.Fifty years have passed since that monumetal blunder that placed humanity in the fringes of a nuclear hell. Now that there is only a handful of the principle actors of that crisis left, we ask ourselves who really gained anything, and who lost. The answer, coincidentally, is in the published text from Fidel Castro on October 21, 2012 at 10:12a.m. “When Kruschev proposed to install mid range projectile missiles similar to those installed in Turkey by the United States — in the need for solidarity, Cuba did not hesitate to take the risk. Our conduct was pure and ethical. We will never ask for forgiveness from anyone for what we did. It is true that half a century has passed, and we are still here holding our heads up high.”

It was not important then that Cuba was not at all consulted in the dialogue between the United States and the USSR which resolved the conflict. Nor that the Cuban authorities, which are the same as today, found out via the shortwave transmission in Radio Moscow the decisions that had been made. It did seem to bother some when the newspaper Revolución, the official  paper predecessor of the Granma, published the headers: “The USSR orders the removal of missiles from Cuba”. Today the world around us is different, it has changed: the Soviet Union no longer exists. The cold war ended. The missile crisis is history. But, for Cuba there are still remnants of those days; because, lamentable but true, after half a century of economic, political and social disaster, they are still here.

 Translated by: Marina Villa

October 24 2012

Two Fall Events / Rafael Leon Rodriguez

Taken from: lapupilainsomne.wordpress.com

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías won the Venezuelan elections as was expected, but only by 10 percentage points; translated to voters figure is assumed he will have to govern with an opposition that showed support from the 45% of the electorate: six million one hundred and fifty thousand electors against approximately seven million four hundred thousand Chavistas. And the 20% of the citizens able to vote didn’t do so.

In the previous election in 2006 the opposition got the 37% of the votes. This means either these are the last elections won by Chávez or these were the last Venezuelan elections at all. Anyway the totalitarian formula is always win-win and the so called XXI Century Socialism won’t be the exception.

Two days before these elections, in Granma Province, the trial was held against the Spanish citizen Ángel Francisco Carromero Barrios, charged with murder while he was driving his vehicle on the public way. Carromero who was driving the car that crashed last July 22 when Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and Harold Cepero lost their lives, remains under arrest until the sentence. Scarce or none information of the trial was known by the Cuban people, only reports from some who tried to get near and weren’t allowed, including Payá Sardiñas’ children. Others were detained to keep them away.

Both events, close in time, have something in common, a thread, which is the lack of information or disinformation with which the officials despise their citizens. Nobody knows the details of the trial against Carromero as no one knew the characteristic of the Venezuelan opposition’s proposal. In Cuba we only heard Chavez’s speeches in his political campaign. Not the ones of the opposition leader, Capriles. The conspirators of silence didn’t give details of the resolution adopted by the Council of the American Christian Democratic Organization (ODCA), on August 31st and September 1st in Chile, where an investigation of the deaths of Payá and Harold Cepero was asked of the competent organization the United Nations, with the support of the four Cuban organizations of the ODCA. Not by chance do totalitarian regimes understand freedom of the press as a contradiction of the democratic system, as for them the information is nothing more than a tool for control and repression.

Translated by: @Hachhe

October 16 2012

Forward Flight / Rafael Leon Rodriguez

Picture from: lapupilainsomne.wordpress.com

In recent days Havana has stood out as venue of countless events, most of them of an international nature and assorted disciplines. International Labiofam Congress 2012; International Law Congress 2012; VII Course on Tools of Control and Prevention Against Administrative Corruption; Orthopedics Congress 2012; Nanosciencie and Nanotechnolgy IV International Seminar, among others. The titles themselves give a feeling of development and resolution in the diversity of subjects and plans for the future. How far from the daily Cuban society! It seems like another Cuba, a virtual one, that only exist for a privileged group, the palace court and company guests.

Nothing to do with the real Cuba, which despite being an small country with 11.2 million inhabitants has the fifth largest prison population in the world in relation to the number of individuals. The one where each citizen’s share of the national debt is valued at six thousand dollars, owed to a group that includes Paris, Russia, China, and who knows how many more countries, whom the Cuban government owes, on balance, the ballpark figure of sixty billion dollars.

The country that is aging at such a pace that it is predicted that by 2035 a third of its population will be over 60 years old. The one where the workers earn miserable salaries not exceeding twenty dollars a month on average, in a dollarized economy. The one where retired men and women are forced to survive through all kinds of tricks to eat and dress badly. The one with a two million person diaspora that grows exorbitantly. The impoverished Cuba that has been exhausted of wealth along with its dreams and hope.

The heirs of the new class seem to behave as if in forward flight, to ignore the sad reality of this island anchored in the past. Convinced of the powers and privileges inherent to their lineage, they flaunt plans, capacities and projects. Meanwhile, the gap continues to widen between them and the majority of citizens, who trapped in the trick of a single party system and the negation of their fundamental human rights, as set out in the United Nations Covenants on civil and political rights and on economic, social and cultural rights, confirm that there can’t be any communion with the oppression.

Translated by: @hachhe

October 2 2012

The Non-Aligned Summit / Rafael Leon Rodriguez

Picture downloaded from actualidad-solidaria.blogspot.com

In August the sixteenth summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) came to an end in Teheran, the capital city of Iran — the country which now assumes the presidency of the organization. The Syrian crisis and the Iranian nuclear program dominated the meeting’s agenda. The movement has lost some of its purpose since the end of the Cold War. During the last decade of the 20th century, however, it seems that the flexibility of its members political views has actually allowed it to retain some relevance in the international arena. It has never been clear that leaders of some of the founding member countries understood what non-alignment meant.

Cuba participated in the first summit conference in Belgrade from September 1 to September 6, 1961, along with 27 other states, as a full member. On May 30 of the following year Comandante Fidel Castro approved Operation Anadir, which allowed the former Soviet Union to install nuclear bases in Cuba with missiles directed towards the United States — an action that brought the world to the brink of annihilation. It is reported that, on the night of October 26, 1962, in the midst of the Caribbean Missile Crisis, the Cuban leader sent a letter to then-Premier Nikita Krushchev suggesting that he launch a first-strike nuclear attack on the United States. The letter, which has never been fully released, has been the subject of various interpretations. Underlying it, however, is an awful intent — to launch a third and final world war.

After the crisis Cuba continued its membership in the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries. It later allowed the installation of a Soviet signals intelligence station at Lourdes as well as a contingent of military personnel. It seems that among the most important concerns of NAM’s founding members is support for so-called national independence movements.  The Cuban dictatorship excelled in this regard at the sacrifice of their people, to get thanks for the real and material solidarity offered, and to turn a blind eye to their past history of military commitments with the ex-Soviets. It’s the politics of ambiguity and the half-truths of regimes of this nature to always justify the means for the ultimate end: to remain in power at all costs.

Translated by: @Hachhe

September 11 2012

About the Moringa / Rafael León Rodríguez

One hot summer afternoon, back in the ’90s, several friends were getting together in the shade of an old sea grape at the beach in Guanabo. One of them said that in his house had lost a small turtle and that after three months, without food or drink, it appeared alive and well.

Shhh…! gestured one present, and rubbing his chin he said, “Speak softly, lest that the Commander decides to put us all a shell.”

July 17 2012

Play Offs / Rafael León Rodríguez

Source: www.tvcamaguey.ICRT.cu

The teams from the western part of the country, the Industriales and Matanzas, began the fifty-first series semifinal playoffs of Cuban baseball, a national sport considered “truly free” by the authoritarian authorities of the archipelago. During the last games, the television images were surprising in the number of players who handled the tension of the games by chewing gum, until, suddenly, all of them stopped doing it. Have they all decided to do so in unison or did the real “liberty in sports” work… under vigilance?

Translated by: Maria Montoto

May 16 2012

What I Hope For From Benedict XVI / Rafael Leon Rodriguez

By: Yoaxis Marcheco Suárez

Statements made to the international press by Pope Benedict XVI, the expected visitor who treads our Cuban soil for a few hours, raised my levels of hope a little with respect to what the political and religious leader can do with his impact on our country. Not that I expect his presence here will change the course of history, but at least it may contribute to the truth of our reality.

I expect a little more of the highest representative of the Roman Catholic Church, not a political speech, but a direct demand to the Cuban government to respect the human and civil rights so abused in Cuba. Yesterday afternoon in Santiago de Cuba, both the Archbishop Dionisio Garcia Ibanez and the Pope made reference to intolerance and a call for understanding and reconciliation among Cubans, but it is necessary to warn, reconciliation is respect, it is silent and hatred before a different voice, it is to live in peace without having to account to the powers-that-be for our ideology or political thought.

I hope from the Pope that he mentions the sad and shameful fact that many Cubans, including practicing and recognized Catholics such as the layman Dagoberto Valdes may not participate in any of his masses because they remain repressed and detained at their homes or in dungeons, with their cell phones silenced and without any media.

That bringing to light the lie of this nefarious totalitarian regime be before the Cuban people and before the world should be an important part of the papal calendar. That he does justice to the marginalized politicians, the voices raised against the dictatorship and that he promotes the rights of our human race to Cubans inside and outside the country is essential.

As an evangelical Christian and Protestant, I know God’s voice is my voice because I have appropriated it and the voice of God is that of the humble, the poor, the disadvantaged, it is them that I defend, I am part of them. I hope Benedict XVI also takes this opportunity to ask, without subtlety, or ambiguity, that they cease the acts of repudiation, the abuse of dissidents, the arbitrary detentions, the lack of respect for ideas and make it clear that a Cuba with all and for the good of all, would be an inclusive Cuba and not otherwise.

God is not the private property of the Revolutionaries, He belongs to everyone and for the benefit of all. I hope, then, that Benedict XVI will be sure to bring that truth and that his voice can impact the nation with a strong call for harmony, love, reconciliation and unity among all those born on the island. And in fact I fully agree with him on the need to “build an open and renewed society” that cares about “the legitimate aspirations of all Cubans wherever they are.”

March 27 2012