Category: Leon Padron Azcuy

HAVANA, Cuba, January 8, 2014. www.cubanet.org – The Cuban Military’s upper echelons are enriched with multiple businesses right in the faces of Cuban citizens. In the block between B, C, 29 and Zapata streets, Army Corps General Abelardo Colome Ibarra, popularly known as “Furry,” exhibits part of his family patrimony which is booming.

The minister gave his son José Raúl Colome a beautiful two-story house here to use — as do other residents of that area — to rent to foreigners. José Raúl also owns the STAR BIEN restaurant, one of the most patronized by Havana’s elite.

Located at No. 205 29th between B and C, this restaurant was recently renovated to become a jewel of the capital’s culinary establishments, competing in price and quality with the best restaurants in the hotel sector of the capital.

According to some sources who preferred anonymity, the site was acquired behind the scenes, and adding the costs of restoration, equipment, atmosphere, service and decor, the property is valued at no less than 100,000 CUC (about $110k US). continue reading

HAVANA, Cuba, November 11, 2013, León Padrón Azcuy/ www.cubanet.org.- The home of opposition activist Sandra Ace Rramos in the town of San Juan y Maritnez was the scene this Saturday morning of a seige by pro-government “Rapid Response Brigades” and paramilitary forces, organized by provincial State Security officials in Pinar del Rio Province. The government-organized mobs were mobilized to disrupt a meeting of provincial opposition leaders scheduled for that day.

According to a report by phone by local activist Maiker Alexander Hernández of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU), who attempted to participate in the dissident meeting, the mobs began surrounding the home in the early morning hours, and were organized by State Security officers José Manuel Crespo and Captain Orestes Ayala. The furious mob shouted obscenities and threats against the opposition activists gathering inside, with the intention of intimidating them into not proceeding with the event. “It as a classically fascist tactic, something never seen in this town before”, said Hernández.

Despite the intense repression and physical aggression, thirteen of the eighteen planned participants were able to enter the house located at 145 Leopoldo Pérez Street, in the town of San Juan Y Martinez. The structure is the site of the independent library Amor Paz y Libertad, run by Ace Ramos.

Five of the activists attempting to participate in the meeting were arrested and taken to the local station of the National Revolutionary Police and released later in the day, around 5pm.

Among the participants in the opposition gathering were Raúl Risco, President of the Pinareña Democratic Alliance, and Eduardo Díaz Freitas, former political prisoner belonging to the famous “Group of 75” (from the Black Spring of 2003) recently released from prison for health reasons. Mr. Díaz declared by phone link: “We organized this gathering because we have resolved to bring together all of the opposition groups in Pinar del Rio Province, something we’ve been wanting to do for some years now”.

Independent librarian Sandra Ace, who hosted the gathering, stated: “We’re really moved, because despite the intense repression and aggression that surrounded us all day, many neighbors helped the participants make it into the house”.

The fascist-style event this Saturday in the town of San Juan y Martinez against peaceful opposition activists is not an isolated event. Pinar del Rio has seen a wave of repressive activity this year against dissidents, similar to that seen in all other parts of the country — a level of repression which is expected to only get worse with time.

It’s no secret that the disproportionate repression on the part of the government of Raul Castro reflects a fear of loss of control. According to the Cuban Reconciliation and Human Rights Commission (CCDHRN), led by Dr. Elizardo Sánchez, in the month of October alone there were 909 politically motivated detentions in the country, one of the highest rates for a single month in over 20 years. This is in addition to incidents of violence by police and para-police units (Rapid Response Brigades), as well as acts of physical aggression against opposition activists.

At the time this report was release, the opposition activists who had gathered for this meeting expressed their gratefulness to media outlets abroad that attempt to generate international awareness of the true state of affairs inside Cuba.

León Padrón Azcuy, Leonpadron10@gmail.com

Cubanet, 11 Nov 2013

HAVANA, Cuba, September 25, 2013, Leon Padron / www.cubanet.org.- In the new “Cuba Says” segment on the TV National News, they addressed the problem of transportation. But it was not a simple confrontation between between some critics among the people and the accustomed triumphalism of the officials.

The Transport Ministry officials insisted that the minibus cooperatives, at a price of five Cuban pesos, have improved transportation in the capital. But they didn’t even remotely address the torments of those who have to travel to the interior of the country.

The national bus and train terminals are always crowded with anxious travelers, prisoners of inefficiency, delay and corruption. The ticket resellers have tickets at four times the official price.

The waiting list

La Coubre is  located near the avenue of the port, where travelers headed for the eastern provinces converge without reservations. The embarkation depends on the faults at the national bus terminal, for those who have to put their names on a long waiting list.

It is here where stoicism is put to the test, because sometimes people have to wait for whole days, sitting on the floor, or standing, with the worst filth, great heat, and a persistent clamor that is only comparable to the torments of hell.

At La Coubre I met a man from Holguin who for two years has come to the capital every month for his son’s medical treatment, because of lack of equipment in the hospital in his town. When I asked him how he arranged these trips, he said he sometimes he spends more than eight hours waiting for passage to Holguin and has to sleep on the floor with his sick child.

Chinese Buses

Nearly nine years ago, the Cuban authorities acquired a batch of Yutong buses in Chine, which improved inter-provincial transportation service. Today the reality is different. Most of these buses are out of service. Armando, a driver who covers the Havana-Moa route, told Cubanet, “These buses turned out pretty good, working without maintenance and without spare parts,” adding, “When I heard them talk about transportation on TV, I thought they would mention that the drivers, when the cars breakdown, we have to pay, from our own pockets, for the maintenance and the parts if we want to continue.”

Leon Padron Azcuy, Leonpadron10@gmail.com

From Cubanet

25 September 2013

HAVANA, Cuba , September, www.cubanet.org – Recently , blogger and freelance journalist Joisy García Martínez  wrote via the phone to his account on Twitter, @criolloliberal: “Raul Castro ratifies the kidnappings in Cuba, but not the [UN Human Rights] Covenants.” The fact was related to the severe repression by the political police on about 30 human rights activists who, on the first Sunday in September were to provide support to the Ladies in White, during Mass and their traditional march down 5th Avenue in the Cuban capital.

Joisy own statements as well as those of Rubén Carthy, independent journalist and former prisoner of the Group of 75, and Eduardo Diaz Fleites, witness to the event, said that on that day,  at the end of the press conference with the Ladies in White, they and six other activists were arrested by the political police, when they were at the bus stop on 3rd and 20th in the Miramar neighborhood. Suddenly, they were surrounded by a large group of soldiers, most in plain clothes and supported by a caravan of several Lada cars, Suzuki motorcycles, two police cars and an 8-seat bus, intended as a cell during the kidnapping.

Several sources said that, subsequently, the entire repressive squadron under the command of the officer known as Camilo, followed the P1 bus route, on which several Ladies in White and other dissidents were traveling. All of them were arrested when they got off at different stops. The Ladies in White and other passengers who were also on the bus witnessed how agents violently forced the opponents into the vehicles.

Throughout the journey, which had its destination in a confusing area beyond Cotorro, far from the center of Havana, the cruelty of the Castro agents was clearly made evident. One of the soldiers who participated in the operation slapped the face of the young man Adrián Chirino García, a member of the Commission for Assistance to Political Prisoners and Families ( CAPPF ), who desperately asking them to open the window, as he couldn’t get any air. This officer was identified by his badge: No. 2228. The license plate of the Lada car was that driven by officer Camilo, HH122. In addition, the number of one patrol car was 529, and the badge of the driver was 00884.

This is not an isolated event, and it marks another black page in the history of the regime in terms of human rights. And it further confirms that during the presidency of Raul Castro he has maintained the method of kidnappings which, although not new the island — in the past many members of the democratic opposition have experienced it — is being reactivated as one of the main forms of repression  in the present.

Leonpadron10@gmail.com

From Cubanet

12 September 2013

Havana , August, www.cubanet.org – Over a year ago, the Havana news channel reporter, Graciela Resquejo, tried to report the terrible living conditions, life-threatening, in which many families live in the solar — tenement — at No. 12 Jesus Maria between San Ignacio and Inquisidor, in Old Havana.

But to no avail. That report was censored by political commissars of Cuban television.

Resquejo apologized days later to neighbors and urged them to relentlessly pressure the institutions responsible for housing, so that one day they might get out of this hell.

The solar at No. 12 Jesus Maria is a disaster. Its tenants live in fear of a collapse, or the spread of disease, because when it rains, the water penetrates the roofs and walls, leading to a steady drip, even hours after the sky clears. Nor do they have drinking water, which comes through a pipe installed between sewer pipes, and rats and cockroaches swarm everywhere.

Neighbors have appealed, time and again, to the government. But the problem persists in every session of the Popular Power. Finally they went to the Department of Citizens Support of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, who toss the ball back to the municipality.

One of the biggest frustrations of tenants, was in 2007, when they were assigned to some old offices in a four-story building near the tenement. They only had to wait until the bathrooms and kitchens were put in. But while waiting for the arrangements, the government itself gave these offices to other victims who had lost their homes because of a cyclone. Back to square one.

Year after year, this miserable citadel of San Ignacio Street waits for the fulfillment of the promises of the authorities. But promises are always empty .

One of the neighbors of the tenement, whose husband recently had a heart operation, said, “The authorities remember us every time a hurricane comes,” adding, “their cynicism knows no bounds, at times we’ve been asked to find our own shelters, on others they’ve taken us to a multipurpose room at Avenida del Puerto, and as soon as the weather improves, we returned to our citadel, ignoring the building collapses that happen when the sun comes out.”

A young woman who works as a waitress at the pizzeria at 264 Prado and who has lived in the tenement for seventeen years said, “We are not asking for a palace in Miramar or Vedado, we want at least a roof with better conditions, but we are always victims of deceit and manipulation.”

The nine families the No 12 Jesús María tenement, living without hope, victims of government neglect .

Leonpadron10@gmail.com

FLASH GALLERY photos Leon Padron Azcuy

29 August 2013

HAVANA, Cuba, www.cubanet.org Recently Cuban “parliamentarians” discussed the issue of prostitution among young people. According to the press official, they drafted strategies to face this evil, as well as pandering, widespread today all across the Island.

It is known that, since 1959, the regime openly proclaimed that women would not have to sell their bodies, since the revolution would provide work and wages. But it all ended up in the book of failure. Currently prostitution is a survival option in Cuba.

The maneuvers to eradicate it have only been from the repressive order, without hitting the target. Deportations to the interior of the island, temporary detention centers, police operations, jail for social dangerousness, and countless fluctuating measures have been implemented, but all are useless.

So I doubt that the alleged Cuban parliament has the solution in hand to solve this problem that corrodes Cuban society on a daily basis.

“No matter what profession we have, it doesn’t do us any good. Only through going to bed with tourists do we have the opportunity to visit the most famous restaurants, cabarets, clubs and hotels in the island, to buy good clothes and shoes, and to solve the pressing problems of our family, until one day we can get out of this country.” Thus spoke Yeilis, a young woman from Guantanamo, age 19, who has lived in the life for two years, in Havana.

Another prostitute, who declined to be identified, said, “La Cecilia, Dos Gardenias, the Salón Rojo at the Capri, La Mesón, Don Cangrejo, El Diablo Tun Tun and las Casas de la Música, among others, are our favorite resorts to link up with tourists. Here the payments of “yumas” (foreigners) to the prostitutes range from 80 to 120 CUC* per night, excluding payments for security and surveillance, police and custodians, and bribes for the staff at the rented home.”

It is noteworthy that at this point Gen. Raul Castro laments the gloomy Cuban outlook with regard to the crisis of values, especially among youth. And while it’s better late than never, the General wasted the opportunity to recognize the direct responsibility of the regime, whose only concern over the years has been to maintain its sole command, regardless of the deterioration of “moral and civic values, decency, shame and decorum” that the nation exhibits.

Maybe his daughter, the “parliamentarian” Mariela Castro Espín, unlike the supreme leader of the revolution, could propose something more profitable to combat this scourge.

Leonpadron10@gmail.com

*Translator’s note: Roughly equivalent to the same amount in dollars.

24 July 2013