Pedro Corzo – Translating Cuba

The Social Tragedy of Castroism

The failure has been so resounding that its prototypes of social miracles, Health, Education and Sport, have been removed from the shop window.

The Pan American Stadium in Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 16 February 2025 — The only achievements that will survive the dynastic totalitarianism of the Castro brothers and their putative son, current president Miguel Diaz-Canel, are propaganda and their repressive efficiency, including the material and human destruction caused by the system.

The failure has been so resounding that its prototypes of social miracles, Health, Education and Sports, have been removed from the showcase that the regime, in its delirium, presented to those who wanted to drown in the sea of happiness of Castroism.

Healthcare is a disaster. Hospitals do not have the means to meet the needs of those admitted. There is no bedding, food or medicine. Electricity is frequently cut off and hygiene is practically non-existent.

Infectious diseases hit the island several times a year. Bureaucrats systematically distort statistics. Lack of modern medicines and equipment, or at least in good working order, is more than frequent. There is a clear difference in the medical care received by the ruling class and foreigners on the one hand, and the population on the other. continue reading

Hospitals do not have the means to meet the needs of those admitted. There is no bedding, food or medicine.

Finally, there is the paradox that the medical power, as they like to call themselves, does not have enough professionals to care for the people because they rent them out to other countries in their eagerness to obtain multimillion-dollar payments that will allow them to partially solve the perennial economic crisis of the system.

Education, the starting point for the indoctrination of new generations, faces a serious problem due to the continuous exodus of teachers to other jobs that provide them with more benefits, affecting the quality of these services.

However, the biggest failure in education was the so-called Schools in the Countryside, an attempt to replace the family with ideological communes in which parents would lose all ability to influence their offspring.

Children and adolescents were uprooted. Far from their usual patterns of behavior, they behaved arbitrarily. The regime tried to impose military discipline in many of these centers and failed most of the time. The imposition of study and work to form the proposed New Man, a kind of enlightened servant trained to serve the project, only reaped disappointment.

Children and adolescents were uprooted. Far from their usual patterns of behavior, they behaved arbitrarily.

The Schools in the Countryside, one of Fidel Castro’s favorite plans, were, according to students of the time, a concentration camp in which methods of extreme severity were practiced along with the most absolute disciplinary neglect, favoring spaces for violence among inmates, perversities of different kinds, including sexual abuse.

The third screen of the regime was sport. For years, Cuba was one of the world powers in this activity, a feature that favored Castroism because the award-winning athletes in significant numbers gave all the credit to the government for their victories, and others, more servile than average, dedicated their laurels to the dictator in chief.

However, Cuba’s leading role in sport has been extinguished, mainly due to its inability to cover the huge expenses demanded by high-performance athletes. In addition, totalitarianism, although it retains power, suffers from widespread and massive exhaustion that will lead at some point to a death by consumption, similar to that suffered by the defunct Soviet Union.

The dictatorship skillfully mixed Health, Education and Sports with politics, achieving a propaganda cocktail of great force.

On the internal level, they favored the confusion and victimization of society for the sake of ephemeral glories.

Their successes in each of these sectors offered an image of progress, freedom and justice that was so far from the true national context that most international observers did not want to admit it because they were supporters of the regime or because they received benefits from a government that granted them goods and privileges that the Cuban people did not have access to.

Advances in each of these sectors provided the system with various international advances and benefits. At the domestic level, they favored the confusion and victimization of society for the sake of ephemeral glories. The much publicized social “achievements” were the result of the formidable Soviet subsidies and not of the productive capacity of an inefficient government that has led the country to misery and absolute indebtedness.

Totalitarianism has turned Cuba into a beggar state since 1959, to the point that it receives food donations of products such as sugar, the most important commodity in our economy before the disaster occurred, putting the survival of the nation at risk.

____________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Useful Idiots

It is sad, but also evident, that 66 years later there are plenty of idiots who continue to yearn for the regime’s scraps.

To clarify, I’m not talking about the nostalgia for Cuba felt by Cubans, an open wound for many of us. I am writing about the people who defend the sinister Cuban government / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 26 January 2025 — Many years ago, at the dawn of Castro’s tyranny, people in Cuba often heard about those described as “useful fools” or “fellow travelers,” for defending Marxist proposals and their spokespersons, without being part of that horde that has done so much damage to humanity.

I met several of those people, including family members, men and women of good faith who believed all the stories of Castroism for a period of time and then joined the armed struggle against the regime. There were also those who, without any good faith, lent themselves to the dictatorship’s game until they feared being burned themselves and decided to emigrate.

Some of these, despite being abroad, never stopped serving Castroism, either by spying for it or by simply white-washing the face of the regime and organizing, in other countries, particularly from the United States and Puerto Rico, trips and conferences to Cuba. continue reading

Others created institutions with the aim of making totalitarianism palatable to foreigners willing to fulfill the role of useful idiots in favor of Castroism, a function in which the intelligence and diplomatic services of Cuba have played an important role by providing resources to those who have served them from abroad.

There were also those who, without any good faith, lent themselves to the dictatorship’s game until they feared being burned themselves and decided to emigrate

Castroism, to expand that influence, founded the Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), an entity that is dedicated to attracting politicians, social leaders, intellectuals and anyone who, as a result of their frustration, is willing to serve in hell. The ICAP and La Casa de Las Americas (House of the Americas) were instruments that provided great services to the Cuban dictatorship, because they could cover up its subversion and its spying.

The Castro leadership quickly realized that it wasn’t only Cubans who supported dysfunctional and tyrannical governments. They became aware that, in all countries, including the most advanced in law, there are useful idiots and fellow travelers ready to serve them over the years.

A few weeks ago, my friend Luis Rolle, a retired captain of the United States Army, told me that he was convinced that the Biden Government was preparing to take measures in favor of the Cuban regime. I listened to his comment very carefully, so it was not surprising that Cuban totalitarianism, an eternal threat to the security of the United States, was once again favored by those who some consider the continuation of Barack Hussein Obama’s policy towards Cuba.

It is incomprehensible that those who promote policies favorable to regimes of force, despite the accumulation of failures of those autocracies, still enjoy public favor and can continue to provide violators of civil rights with coverage that favors them, which, at the least, makes them “fellow travelers.”

The Castro leadership quickly realized that it wasn’t only Cubans who supported dysfunctional and tyrannical governments

Unfortunately, we find many personalities who enjoy being fellow travelers of autocrats. We see them in the entertainment industry, academia, powerful corporations and in US politics, as demonstrated by the exclusion of the Cuban regime from the list of terrorist states, fortunately reinstated with that designation by President Donald Trump the same day he assumed the leadership of the country.

It is painful, but also evident, that 66 years later there are plenty of idiots who, despite having abandoned Cuba, continue to long for scraps from the regime, letting themselves be manipulated in different ways by the Castro authorities, always ready to fish in their troubled waters in order to make money, even if it is stained with the blood of their compatriots.

Let me clarify, I’m not talking about the nostalgia for Cuba felt by Cubans, an open wound for many of us. I am writing about people who, despite having made the decision to leave their country, defend the leaders of the nefarious Government that forced them to leave. I suggest that both terms, “useful fools and fellow travelers,” be summarized in “useful idiots,” because after so much devastation, we should be more categorical in these qualifications, which show that thousands of years of evolution do not prevent some human beings from still having the genes of rats.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The Commitment to be Exiled

The decades that have passed and the lack of success in the libertarian proposal have not exhausted the exile

Few pueblos have citizens who have not been able to visit their home country for 66 years. / EFE

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 19 January 2025 — The Cuban political exile, like political imprisonment, is, without a doubt, one of the longest and most numerous in the history of humanity. Few countries have citizens who have not been able to visit their home country for 66 years, due to restrictions imposed by a dictatorship.

Of course, we should not confuse exile with immigration. Although both have common characteristics, the political exile is supposed to continue working for a change of government in his country, while the immigrant is seasoned with other motivations.

Exile, for the benefit of the new generations of Cubans who, inside or outside the Island, have been subject to the chronic censorship and misinformation that the dictatorship exercises on every event, is an honorable evidence of the commitment of many Cubans who have never given up on their efforts to overthrow the dictatorship by any means possible, including those that for some are not politically correct.

From the beaches of exile – which are only beautiful when you say goodbye to them, as Jose Martí wrote – hundreds of Cubans have left to bring freedom and democracy to Cuba, dying in combat as happened to many others, such as Armentino El Indio Feria, or going to prison for long decades as was the case of Armando Sosa Fortuny, 44 years in prison in two periods until he died in prison. continue reading

In the United States, as in Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, numerous compatriots have been imprisoned for years.

Many exiles have served long prison sentences outside Cuba for fighting the interests or resources of the tyranny in foreign lands. Here in the United States, as in Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, as far as I know, numerous compatriots have been imprisoned for years, among others, Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, a truly large number of men and women.

There has been no shortage of those who seek to fulfill their duty as exiles by taking the route of U.S. national politics, exemplified by Congressmen Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who, within the framework of local politics, like other serving Cuban politicians, have never ceased to attack Castro’s totalitarianism.

Another aspect of the exile that we must mention is the work of the communicators. Many of them, like Agustín Tamargo, Armando Pérez Roura, Salvador Lew and Ninoska Pérez Castellón, have encouraged and promoted the commitment to bring freedom to Cuba, just as there have been editors deeply committed to Cuban democracy, like Juan Manuel Salvat and Nancy Pérez Crespo.

Writers and journalists committed to the rights of all have not been absent. Carlos Alberto Montaner breathed and lived in the pain of Cuba all his life, and we can also write about many others such as Reinaldo Arenas, Ángel Cuadra and Jorge Valls, as well as journalists such as Ariel Remo and Cary Roque.

The decades that have passed and the lack of success in the libertarian proposal have not exhausted the exiles. Many Cubans have been able to make a fortune thanks to their capacity for work and ingenuity, such as Rogelio Cisneros, who has given up his fortune to fight totalitarianism.

The defense of human rights on the part of the exiles has been another constant, as Ricardo Bofill Pages and Reinaldo Bragado Bretaña, two citizens who fought for their convictions on and off the island, always demonstrated.

Nor has human solidarity been lacking either, as has been the case with the management of the Miami Medical Team, headed by Dr. Manuel Alzugaray. The management of this institution is proof that the fight for freedom is not divorced from the most sensitive humanism.

Exile organizations are key to continuing the struggle

Finally, there is the constant work, the endless dedication, the example of perseverance and quiet sacrifice of overlooking potential benefits to advance the democratic cause in which we must believe when founding organizations that assume the commitment to fight to the last consequences, as Nazario Sargent did when founding Alpha 66, Antonio Jose Varona when founding the Junta Patriótica or Jorge Mas Canosa when establishing the Cuban American National Foundation.

Exile organizations are key to continuing the struggle, as exemplified by, among others, the aforementioned Alpha 66 under the leadership of Ernesto Diaz Rodríguez or the Asamblea de la Resistencia coordinated by the tireless Orlando Gutiérrez, who has shown his commitment to Cuba since his adolescence.

____________

Venezuela: Democracy Versus Dictatorship

Maduro and his criminal associates are aware of the wide popular support that González and Machado have earned with their perseverance, boldness and decorum.

Nicolás Maduro during his swearing-in as president of Venezuela on January 10, 2024 / @DiazCanelB/X

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 12 January 2024 — January 10 was a turning point for Venezuela. Regardless of the results of that day, the country will not be the same. The victory of democracy would be an invaluable benefit for everyone, but even if this does not take place, the constant effort and willingness to risk both life and freedom for a just cause are signs of an edifying patriotism.

In the face of an eventual triumph of democracy, which will be an uphill battle, the supporters of the dictatorship will create chaos. Castrochavism does not rest, unless it is absolutely defeated.

The display of dignity and courage of President-elect Edmundo González, María Corina Machado and their allies give impetus to their supporters and makes their enemies tremble. They demonstrate that it is possible to resist and get close to victory, an example that must reinvigorate those of us who suffer from these dictatorships.

Venezuela has historically been one of the protagonists of the continent since the time of the Liberator

After January 10, it is expected that the contenders will assume roles that are even more antagonistic. The confrontation between repression and resistance will become more acute, and I do not think, to the detriment of the country, that the hostility will be switched off and extinguished. continue reading

Both the autocracy led by Nicolas Maduro and Diosdado Cabello, and the democratic proposal of elected-president González and María Corina Machado mean that Venezuela is at an unprecedented crossroads for the country itself and for the hemisphere. The country has historically been one of the protagonists of the continent since the time of Simón Bolívar, the Liberator.

The situation of Venezuela is unique. It suffers from a dictatorship that calls for elections, loses them for not having the support of the people and, despite controlling the electoral machinery, cannot appropriate the voting records. Meanwhile, they face an opposition capable of resurrection after being practically deceased, thanks to the electoral feat of González and Machado, who restored the hope of change in the people, a feat almost as important as the restoration of democracy.

All Venezuelans – the opposition, the Government and people in general – are risking their future. The parties have a great responsibility, which is why we must all take sides in the trench we have chosen. We must fight hard; concessions cannot be made, and the factions in conflict must be convinced that there is no second chance.

González and María Corina Machado must be strong in their proposals. There is no room for hesitation or concessions to the enemy. The fight will be very difficult, and they must be prepared to confront the evil of Castrochavism, which, with the loss of power at risk, can resort to its entire criminal arsenal.

Maduro and his criminal associates are aware of the broad popular support that González and Machado have earned with their perseverance, boldness and decorum. They know that if they respect the popular will they must leave the Government, whatever the consequences.

The people elected González and repudiated the continuity of Castrochavism, which has caused vast and profound destruction Venezuela

There is no doubt that González has justice on his side. The people elected him and repudiated the continuity of Castrochavism, which has caused vast and profound destruction in Venezuela, but we should all be aware that good intentions by themselves do not lead to the materialization of our ideals. Many tools are needed, and González has shown he is alert by sending a message to members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, asking them to comply with their constitutional duty and reject any attempt at usurpation of power by the dictator, Nicolás Maduro, alluding to the 1999 Constitution, promoted by the autocrat Hugo Chávez Frías.

Edmundo González has completed an international journey of awareness in democratic countries. He has met with many other leaders who will hopefully tell their diplomatic representatives accredited in Venezuela to accompany him in the presidential ceremony, while María Corina Machado and her supporters have mobilized the people so that they can ratify the vote they cast on July 28.

However, we know that Maduro will not lack puppets, that he will have anti-democratic allies from Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Colombia, Brazil, Honduras and Mexico, among others, which is why freedom is in danger.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Cuba, 66 Years in the Dark

The hope for a better world was dashed, only fear remained

Fidel Castro entering Havana on January 8, 1959 / Archive

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami. 5 January 2024 — I remember as if it were today, the first of January 1959 and the days that followed. I had just turned 16 and there was a collective hysteria, as best described by the journalist and historian Enrique Encimosa in the documentary Al Filo del Machete, produced by Pedro Suarez Tintín and Luis Diaz, and by the writer Jose Antonio Albertini in his most recent publication Memoria Constante: Relatos verídicos.

At the end of 1958, the premiere of the film The Bridge Over the River Kwai was scheduled to take place at El Cloris, the most modern cinema in Santa Clara.

I don’t think there were any movie-goers in those days. Various rebel groups attacked the city, taking the war to the streets, although I do remember that a few months later the cinema and the building that housed it, the Grand Hotel, the tallest building in the interior of the country, were confiscated by the revolution.

The former owner, Orfelio Ramos, was an entrepreneur, as dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel likes to say, who had made his fortune renting out bicycles and driving local buses with such spirit and talent that he became the owner of the buses that provided urban service in the city of Santa Clara.

Most of the population participated in that carnival that mixed hope for some and fear for others.

Hysteria had gripped both men and women. To my knowledge, the majority of the population participated in that carnival that mixed hope for some and fear for others. In the end, the ironclad social control established by Fidel and Raúl Castro terrorized the population in a framework of colossal inefficiency that has led the country to unprecedented spiritual and continue reading

material misery.

The hope for a better world was dashed, and only fear remained. These contrary feelings were the result of the fanaticism of a few who, by standing out in the revolutionary whirlwind, were the protagonists of a sectarianism that was difficult to free themselves from, even if they had revolutionary credentials, as happened to the insurrectional leader Pedro Barata, a political prisoner for many years, when he testified before some thugs that the person they accused was innocent.

I remember a Castro slogan that said more or less it doesn’t matter what you did, but what you are doing, a clear message to the new and future accomplices of the destruction of the Republic that we lost.

The tension in society grew stronger every day because the arbitrary arrests and the roar of the firing squad frightened and deafened us. Arrests based on mere suspicions or unfounded accusations of collaboration with the overthrown regime were factors that encouraged opportunists or the most fearful to become accusers before the revolutionary courts, which did not seek justice but cruel revenge, concealed in a spurious judicial process.

The Revolution as a source of law, a pronouncement by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Republic, as Dr. Ramón Barquín explained in a recent article, gave the coup de grace to civility, including the conversion of the media, even the private ones, into instruments of a thunderous propaganda that confused the citizenry beyond description, a citizenry that was gradually but constantly being transformed into a mass at the service of the Castros and a criminal accomplice.

The massive confiscation of property, without judicial process, deprived many people of well-earned family fortunes.

On the other hand, the massive confiscation of property, without judicial process, deprived many people of well-earned family patrimonies. A Ministry for the Recovery of Misappropriated Property was hastily created, appointing incompetent administrators who destroyed the properties, a kind of precursor to the nouveau riche of today, children of the moncadistas, who today enjoy the power and wealth that their parents and grandparents appropriated.

Days and nights passed by, accumulating 66 years. Many have been accomplices of Castro’s totalitarianism. The regime has not lacked executioners who, even if they have not fired a rifle at a fellow human being, are accomplices of the numerous deaths and sufferings endured by the population.

However, to the satisfaction of men and women of dignity, there has been no shortage of compatriots willing to face the disgrace of Castroism with the painful consequences of exile, prison and firing squad, not to mention the internal exile in which many compatriots live, who, for various reasons, remain on the Island.

I am sure that Cuba and the Cubans will be free, but justice must be sought for this vast devastation of 66 years of terror.

____________

The Sin-Eaters Return

There are people who have never stopped blaming the United States for the failures and mistakes of Cuban totalitarianism

Perhaps, the most conspicuous of those sin-eaters* is President Barack Obama / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 29 December 2024 — It is not new that US politicians and officials believe that they are responsible for all the evils suffered by others, as can be seen in a recent letter that former diplomats and National Security officials addressed to President Joe Biden and his vice president Kamala Harris, in relation to Cuba.

The United States has its own “sin-eaters“: people who, through ritual meals, free individuals who have recently died or are close to death from their sins. Perhaps the most conspicuous of these is President Barack Obama, who re-established relations with Cuba without demanding changes on the Island.

In my opinion, the letter should have been addressed to the dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel, since they recognize that it is the Government of Cuba itself that has created “insufficient and incoherent political reforms that have largely caused this crisis.” However, the sin-eater aspect of the letter appears when they claim that “the current policy of the United States has exacerbated the difficulties of Cubans.”

There are people who have never stopped blaming the United States for the failures and mistakes of Cuban totalitarianism, stating that the embargo and US policies forced Fidel Castro to be hostile to this country. They ignore that the Cuban system has concluded 66 years with political prisoners and a people immersed in misery for the failed policies of the regime, and not for real or alleged foreign aggressions. continue reading

I remember reading the opinions of compatriots who blamed the US for having led Castro to ally with the Soviet Union

Even more, I remember reading the opinions of compatriots who blamed the US for having led Fidel Castro to ally with the Soviet Union. They ignore that on June 5, 1958, he wrote to Celia Sánchez: “When I saw the rockets they threw at Mario’s house, I have sworn to myself that the Americans will pay dearly for what they are doing. When this war is over, a much longer and bigger war will begin for me: the war I’m going to wage against them. I realize that this is going to be my true destiny. Fidel.”

The petition also requests that Cuba be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, ignoring that the Cuban government, for more than six and a half decades, has systematically supported the violent groups that have tried to destroy democracies in their own countries.

Finally, they very discreetly ask that the White House be the savior of tyranny by increasing humanitarian aid and simplifying the rules for Cuban citizens to access the US financial system.

They are well informed about the critical situation of Cubans, but apparently they prefer to ignore who is responsible for the situation they describe by saying: “The country’s energy network is failing, child malnutrition is increasing, basic services are deteriorating, and most Cubans have lost hope, precipitating the largest exodus of migrants from Cuba in its history.”

Many of those who signed this document are former officials of the government of Barack Obama

Many of those who signed this document are former officials of the government of Barack Obama, such as former ambassador to Cuba Jeffrey DeLaurentis, who denies that the Obama-era thaw has been a failure, without presenting evidence of its success. Vice President Harris said in 2020 that the embargo policy only helps supporters of confrontation, ignoring that the ones who have promoted confrontation are the rulers of Cuba, from the Castro brothers to the hand-picked dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel.

I ask those who signed, do not play into the game of the enemies of democracy. A license that allows United States citizens to invest in Cuban companies will not change the situation of Cubans for the better. Spaniards and Canadians have made large investments in Cuba without the Island prospering. Finally, the Cuban state under Castro’s totalitarianism was failing long before some of you voted for Barack Obama or Joe Biden.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The Purges in Castro Totalitarianism

Periodically, despotic regimes resort to purging their officials because they are no longer trusted by the supreme leader

The most important dismissal has been that of Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Perdomo Di-Lella, considered a potential candidate of the Castro regime to be president in 2028. / Radio Sancti Spíritus

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 15 December 2024 — It is constantly mentioned that the leader of the regime in Cuba, at least on paper, the inept Miguel Diaz-Canel, is immersed in a purge of officials who do not offer guarantees of continuity to totalitarianism. Many have been fired, and by all indications the list will grow.

Periodically, despotic regimes resort to purging their officers, not because they commit some crime – they are all criminals – but because they are no longer trusted by the supreme leader, the most important endorsement to be part of those governments.

In Cuba, the first purges took place in the remnants of the insurrectionary process. In July 1959, Fidel Castro committed a coup d’état against the nominal president Manuel Urrutia Lleó. Next came the dismissal and imprisonment of Commander Huber Matos and his men, followed by the cleansing of less notable personalities, up to the process of the microfaction.*

Months after Fidel Castro declared, in 1961, that the revolution was communist – he had emphatically denied it in the first years of the triumph- the first great purge took place within the framework of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations, ORIs, with the dismissal, in 1962, of Aníbal Escalante, leader of the Popular Socialist Party. This situation was repeated in 1966-68, as my admired colleague and friend Luis Cino wrote, in the largest legal action against the communists in the history of Cuba, and this did not occur under the mandates of Gerardo Machado or Fulgencio Batista, but under the omnipresent authority of Fidel Castro. continue reading

The constant struggles within Castroism, genuine wolf fights, led to the dismissal in 1968 of Ramiro Valdés, the once almighty and bloodthirsty Minister of the Interior

The microfraction was very useful to the maximum leader because it sent the Kremlin a resounding message of who was the master of the game. Moscow broke with its historical subjects of the Popular Socialist Party and allied itself with this upstart who guaranteed it a new and more effective servitude.

The microfraction was a great scandal in which Raúl Castro served as the main accuser. The accused, almost forty of them, were sentenced to different prison sentences, among them a man who became aware, like few others, of the damage that the new regime would cause to Cubans. Ricardo Bofill Pagés,** years later and in prison, would sow the foundations to promote new forms of fighting against totalitarianism.

The constant struggles within Castroism, genuine wolf fights, led to the dismissal in 1968 of Ramiro Valdés, the once almighty and bloodthirsty Minister of the Interior, for rivalry with Raúl, the brother of the pharaoh. However, “Ramirito” was irreplaceable in his role as executioner, which is why he never stopped being in the front row of power.

It is appropriate to recognize that the bloodiest purge of Castroism, without alluding to the numerous and inexplicable deaths of generals and doctors that occurred in recent years, was the one that occurred in 1989, when General Arnaldo Ochoa and three senior officers of the armed forces, Antonio de la Guardia, Jorge Martínez and Amado Padrón Trujillo, were sentenced to death and shot. Others involved were given prison sentences.

The political purges are closely related to the insecurity and fear suffered by the leadership of the government

A known sequel to this was the death of Jose Abrahantes, a famous Castro hitman who served 20 years in prison before they killed him by inducing a heart attack .

The political purges are closely related to the insecurity and fear suffered by the leadership of the government. Thus, the inept Miguel Diaz-Canel, in recent months, has dismissed several important players in the Government and the party.

A key figure in the regime was the former Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil, who was fired in February and subsequently accused of corruption. However, the most important dismissal hierarchically, has been that of Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Perdomo Di-Lella, a young man with vast government experience who was considered a potential candidate for president in 2028, if the regime survives until that date. The cork on which it has been floating all these years seems to be taking in water.

Translator’s notes

* In 1968, a group of almost 40 officials in the Cuban Communist party and other organizations known as the “microfaction” was completely purged from the government. They endorsed Soviet-style material incentives over “moral enthusiasm” to encourage workers. Accused of conspiring against the state, they were sentenced to prison.

** Bofill and a group of friends founded the Cuban Committee for Human Rights in 1976. He passed away in Miami in 2019.

Translated by Regina Anavy
____________

The Pharaoh’s Tragic Legacy

They do not accept rivalries, they reject dialogue or debate, force is the main argument in promoting the political model they defend.

Unfortunately for the Cuban people, Castro had a long and unproductive life, making his legacy even more pathetic. / Silvio Rodríguez/Cubadebate

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, November 24, 2024 — Though eight years have passed since his death, we must acknowledge that his ill-fated legacy remains. The totalitarian regime that Fidel Castro built has fulfilled his sole purpose in life: to seize and preserve absolute power.

The Cuban dictator ruled like an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, with overwhelming power. He controlled the lives and properties of his subjects, projected an imperialist attitude and expected submission from his neighbors.

The totalitarian constitution of 1976 was drafted to institutionalize his will. This became all too obvious when the Castro legislators, on orders from their sovereign Fidel, decided to amend the constitution in reaction to the threat posed by Oswaldo Paya’s reform initiative, the Varela Project. They declared that socialism — meaning totalitarianism — was irrevocable.

Unfortunately for the Cuban people, Castro had a long and unproductive life, making his legacy even more pathetic. Totalitarianism has survived because it has been able to pass on to his followers the malevolence and inefficiency that characterized his life.

The totalitarian constitution of 1976 was drafted to institutionalize Castro’s will

Sadly for us, Fidel Castro has subjugated the country and its people for more than six and a half decades. His supreme mandate lasted forty-nine years, making him the longest-serving ruler of the 20th and 21st centuries.

It is true that the system’s never-ending state of decline has gotten so bad that it seems irreversible. Though the end may be in sight, the prolonged agony will make things even more disastrous for the Cuban people.

Perhaps the dictator-designate, Miguel Díaz-Canel, will be its gravedigger. Hopefully, the system and its fugitives will be buried together. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the fact that the nation’s future is seriously threatened by the corrosive teachings and practices of totalitarianism. continue reading

Cuban totalitarianism gave itself new laws. Its parodies of legal proceedings allowed for public murders. Shootings were carried out in parks, cemeteries and schoolyards. Society was militarized. Terror took root. A framework that promoted hatred was adopted. Machine guns were used to resolve differences. The cultural and moral foundations of the nation — part of the National Plan, which sought to recreate civic awareness — were broken in order to introduce new values and dogmas that have left many without ethical principles, forcing them into moral bankruptcy.

Cuba’s crisis of civility runs very deep. Norms of coexistence, respect for differences and even common courtesy have been trampled by the government for more than six decades, a situation that can be seen in how large segments of the population are treated, including some of those who reject the regime.

Fidel Castro’s legacy is one long criminal rap sheet

Education was largely replaced by the culture of the barracks. Whoever had the biggest stick was right. The regime announced it intended to create a “New Man.” It denied parents the right to participate in the education of their children. It combined school with work, creating dysfunction in the family.

The consequences of an exclusionary system like the one imposed in Cuba are very pernicious. The island’s civil rights lawyers have a huge job ahead of them. They will have to work very hard to change the mentality of a large portion of the population, to make sure that citizens are aware of their rights and responsibilities.

Many Cubans, especially those who identify with the dictatorship, tend to react violently to those with different points of view. They are intolerant of rivals. They reject dialogue and debate. Force is their main tool for promoting the political system they are defending. This has led to a rise in crime which, despite brutal repression, is still not under control.

Castro’s supporters act as if they were defending a religion. The writer José Antonio Albertini was correct when he described the Cuban regime as more genuinely autocratic than that of Iran because it had a living god in the person of Fidel Castro and a high priest in the person of his brother Raúl.

Fidel Castro’s legacy is one long criminal rap sheet. His violent crimes are many but the most devastating, as Dagoberto Valdés has noted, are those that have caused human damage to young generations of Cubans.

____________

Castrochavismo is Anti-Semitic

Governments similar to those of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia are bitter enemies of Israel

Miguel Díaz-Canel and other members of Cuba’s Government march in support of Palestine / Vanguardia

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 3 November 2024 — The leaders of that cocktail of repression and inefficiency that we know as Castrochavismo are by nature anti-Semitic. They feel repulsion towards the Jewish state and its citizens, and are complicit with terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, maintaining a close relationship with their godfather, Iran.

The Jewish nation is a promoter of democracy and the rule of law and a defender of civil and religious freedoms, which directly clashes with the proposals of Governments associated with Castrochavism.

Israel, without being a perfect state, is a socio-political heresy for the mentality of the faithful, especially if compared to the State of Iran.

Perhaps the most conspicuous of these leaders in their attacks against the Jews was Hugo Chávez, who on the eve of Christmas 2006 declared: “The world has enough for everyone, but it turns out that some minorities, the descendants of those who crucified Christ, took possession of the riches of the world.” This was largely ratified by his successor, Nicolas Maduro, who declared that “the Zionists control the world” and that Jews were behind the opposition protests.

Perhaps the most conspicuous of these leaders in their attacks against the Jews was Hugo Chávez

The governments of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia are the bitter enemies of Israel on the continent, in addition to Gustavo Petro’s Colombia, which broke off relations with Tel Aviv over the attacks on Gaza without continue reading

condemning the abominations of Hamas on October 7, 2023. The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, also broke off relations and condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza but not the crimes committed by Palestinian terrorists.

Although Fidel Castro invented Castrochavismo, he never confessed to being anti-Semitic. However, the hatred mixed with envy he felt towards the United States and his deep rejection of democracy led him to act against the State of Israel by developing close alliances with Arab nations.

In 1973, in Algeria, during a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, Castro announced that Cuba would break diplomatic relations with Israel. In October of that year, he helped Egypt and Syria in the Yom Kippur war, and sent troops and equipment to Syria. Israel, since 1992, has voted in favor of the U.S. embargo against Cuba but abstained in 2016, as did Barack Obama.

The Cuban dictator was the first to receive the Iranian despots as saviors. During one of his presidencies of the Non-Aligned Countries, in 1979, Castro invited the leaders of the Islamic revolution to join the entity by participating in the summit in Havana. Thus began a long friendship between both governments that would have an impact on the satellite regimes of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, laying the foundations for the presence of fundamentalist terrorist groups in those countries.

Castro was not a theorist but a talented and dedicated practitioner of taking and holding onto totalitarian authority

Fidel concluded alliances with countries, personalities and proposals that coincided with his interests. He allied himself with the Soviet Union and wrapped himself in atheistic Marxism, but this did not hinder his alliance with the most uncompromising Islamic leaders, such as the Iranian theocracy.

Castro, as a fundamentalist of power, was not a theorist but a talented and dedicated practitioner of taking and holding onto totalitarian authority. In Cuba, he forged a network of faithful who are unable to survive without him. Neither the accumulated failures nor the collapse of the Cuban economy has broken the regime that Castro inaugurated more than 65 years ago.

Forty-nine years of absolute power allowed the Caribbean pharaoh to create a framework of officials within Cuba that he could replicate in numerous Latin American countries, by providing material, logistics and advice to any aspiring leader who shared his grudges. Many of the democratic leaders of the hemisphere should recognize that their stupidity and tolerance for Castroism has forced them into exile, and their Cuban peers are also responsible.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Miguel Díaz Bauzá Has Served 10,957 Days in Prison in Cuba

Castroite totalitarianism accumulates an unparalleled level of evil regarding imprisonment in our hemisphere.

Díaz Bauzá landed on the shores of Caibarién on October 15, 1994 / Instagram

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 27 October 2024 — I regret to be forced to write again about the immortal Cuban political prisoners, the best and most glorious proof – after the firing squad, the dead in combat and the missing – that a broad sector of our people refuses to live under totalitarianism.

Miguel Díaz Bauzá is a worthy example of Jose Martí’s statement: “When there are many men without honor, there are always others who have in themselves the honor of many men.” Being outside Cuba, far from the traumatizing experience of living under oppression, he decided, together with a group of comrades, to leave for the island to bring freedom to his compatriots, organizing an armed uprising against Fidel Castro’s dictatorship.

It is fair to say it because honoring honors. Many Cuban exiles have abandoned their family life and possessions, risking everything to land in Cuba to fulfill their duty to fight for freedom and human dignity. Heroism has not been lacking, as the writer and former political prisoner Jose Antonio Albertini affirms.

The living conditions of political prisoners are inhuman, those imprisoned for common crimes are not any better

Díaz Bauzá arrived on the shores of Caibarién on October 15, 1994, together with the martyr of the country Armando Sosa Fortuny, who died in prison after serving 44 years in two terms. Sosa Fortuny entered Cuba twice clandestinely, in 1960 and 1994, and died in 2019. continue reading

They were accompanied by Humberto Eladio Real Suarez, 29 years behind bars, and also former political prisoners Jesús Rojas Pineda, José Ramón Falcón Gómez, Pedro Visao Peña and Lázaro González Caraballo.

Castroite totalitarianism accumulates an unparalleled level of evil regarding imprisonment in our hemisphere. The living conditions of political prisoners are inhuman; those imprisoned for common crimes are not any better.

The number of people who have served more than 20 years in prison under brutal conditions is striking, with Mario Chanes de Armas who reached 30 years, today surpassed by Díaz Bauzá, who reached more than 30 years with his two sentences, a term invented by the Cuban prison authorities to try to destroy the dignity of these brave men.

Many prisoners served their sentence facing year after year the repressive acts of the regime’s henchmen and challenging the authorities, so that when the time came for their release they were not released, having to serve months and even years in prison due to the administrative disposition of the Ministry of the Interior, at the whim of a high-ranking official or through a trial as spurious and unjust as all those carried out by the dictatorship. These prisoners began to be known as the “reconvicted” among their fellow inmates.

The regime could not tolerate the rebellious behavior of many men and women, so, violating its own laws, they “recondemned” them.

It is unacceptable that Díaz Bauzá, 81 years old, has served 30 years in prison and is still in jail. We must not remain silent in the face of such cruelty and we must denounce the false pretext of a new sentence of 25 years for having participated in a violent incident in one of the many dungeons of the tyranny.

Many prisoners served their sentence facing year after year the repressive acts of the regime’s henchmen and challenging the authorities

Those who know him affirm he is a man of honor with a deep sense of justice. Angel de Fana, a former political prisoner for 20 years, with whom he speaks relatively frequently, says that the prisoner is not willing to make any kind of concessions to get out of prison, despite the decades that have passed and his poor health condition, which is why medicines have to be sent to him from overseas.

Díaz Bauzá is one of the people who has been in prison the longest for political reasons in the continent, a painful distinction that the totalitarian dictatorship intends to extend until 2032, which would make him serve 38 years in prison. The behavior of the Cuban dictatorship against Miguel Díaz Bauzá is the reiteration of evil, injustice and abuse of absolute power against those who want freedom and citizens’ rights on the island.

The Cuban regime’s perversion has no equal. Poverty and the violation of citizens’ rights reign from one end of the island to the other. Crises follow one after another in these six-and-a-half-long decades leaving a severe impact on the citizens.

Translated by LAR

____________

Borrell, Latin America and the European Union

Members of civil society in Cuba have requested that the EU subsidy to the Havana regime be eliminated

Borrell was a senior official in the Administration of one of Fidel’s strongest allies, former Spanish president Felipe González / EFE

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, September 22, 2024 — The conclusion is not edifying, but it agrees with reality.

Everything seems to indicate that many institutions act more in accordance with the opinions of their officials than according to the values on which they claim to sustain themselves, as is the case of the European Union, an entity institutionally committed to democracy and the enjoyment of citizens’ rights, which incurs incomprehensible contradictions.

The Assembly of Cuban Resistance, an organization linked to the overthrow of the dictatorship of the largest island of the Antilles, which, in addition, shows great concern about the dangers to democracy in the hemisphere, has been denouncing, practically since its constitution, the indulgence of the European Union toward the totalitarian Cuban regime.

These accusations, despite their constancy, have not been successful, because one of the most important officials of that entity, Joseph Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, apparently feels sympathy for Castroism and its heirs.

Which leads me once again to agree with the writers Jose Antonio Albertini and Alexis Ortiz, who claim that many personalities born or trained under the management of the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro have not been able to get rid of those influences. Borrell was trained and was a senior official in the Administration of one of Fidel’s strongest allies, Felipe continue reading

González, the former head of the Spanish Government, today very rightly opposing the autocracy of Nicolas Maduro.

However, González has never admitted that what Venezuela is currently suffering is a metastasis conceived by his former ally Fidel Castro.

Members of civil society in Cuba and the Assembly of Cuban Resistance have addressed Borrell requesting that the EU subsidy to the Havana regime be eliminated, and they have demanded compliance with a resolution approved by a large majority of the members of the European Parliament demanding the end of support for the Cuban tyranny.

The request states that “human rights abuses and violations have increased”

The request states that “human rights abuses and violations systematically perpetrated by the Cuban regime against demonstrators, political dissidents, religious leaders, human rights activists and independent artists, among other people, have increased,” while demanding “the activation of the human rights clause of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement with Cuba.”

While Borrell and other officials grimace about Cuban totalitarianism, the number of political prisoners has grown considerably, and their living conditions have seriously deteriorated, as have those of the rest of the citizens.

The call emphasizes that the “number of political prisoners has multiplied by more than eight since 2018, which makes Cuba the largest prison of political activists and dissidents in Latin America,” a shameful position it has occupied since 1959.

On the other hand, I must write with extreme satisfaction that this same Borrell said that the Government of Nicolás Maduro “is a dictatorial and authoritarian regime,” a statement which should encompass the regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia, four Governments that deny their citizens the enjoyment of the most elementary rights.

The failures of Cuban totalitarianism are repeated in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, countries that are experiencing precarious conditions on all fronts. Their leaders intend only to perpetuate themselves in power, and, to achieve that goal, they sacrifice the integral well-being of their people.

Castrochavism has turned out to be a tremendous fiasco in each and every one of the countries where it imposes itself and is a certain threat to other nations, among which Colombia and Mexico stand out, where historical supporters of the statements of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez govern.

Latin America has never ceased to be a volcano on the verge of eruption, but right now the danger is much greater than in the past. The enemies of democracy are many, and they have more resources and experience. One doesn’t have to be a prophet to realize this.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Venezuela Is Heading Towards the ‘Real Socialism’ of Cuba

The control exercised by fear is inconceivable in a society in which what is not expressly allowed is a crime

People run during clashes between opponents and members of the Bolivarian National Guard, in a demonstration after the presidential elections, in Caracas / EFE

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 15 September 2024 — During my almost twelve years of residence in Venezuela, I had opportunities that I never enjoyed in my longed-for Cuba. There were problems, some very serious, but the framework of rights and freedoms that we all enjoyed generated spaces for rectification.

What I liked the most was freedom of the press and open discussions in a framework of cordiality and respect. Coming from the absolute social control existing in my country to an environment of tolerance without fanaticism was an invaluable change

There was no censorship, let alone self-censorship. Each scribe said what he had in mind, including those who warned of a disastrous future and were considered prophets of doom.

With the passage of time, I learned how politely inclusive Venezuelan society was. I met old guerrillas, people who had been allied with Fidel Castro to destroy national democracy, and, when they realized what that guy would bring to their country, broke with the tyrant. continue reading

Each scribe said what he thought, including those who warned of a disastrous future and were considered prophets of doom

Most were eminent leaders, such as Américo Martin and Teodoro Petkoff, among others, who did not take long to denounce and oppose Hugo Chávez’s proposal to castrate Venezuela.

There were sympathizers and allies of Castroism in the news media and many organizations. However, my journalistic collaborations were never censored, although I cannot say the same for other entities, such as the Ateneo de Caracas, where Dr. Silvia Meso was told that a documentary critical of Fidel and the Revolution would never be screened there.

There were newspapers and television stations that did not like to spread the news that the exiled Cuban community was proclaiming, and personalities who canonized Fidel Castro in life.

There were Castro supporters even in the Armed Forces, as indicated in the WLRN Opinions program by retired general Carlos Peñaloza. Hugo Chávez, said the high-ranking officer, was protected by other superior soldiers; consequently, there were few moles.

Unfortunately for Venezuelans and the hemisphere, those who warned about the fifth column of the enemies of democracy were not wrong.

Hugo Chávez, said the high-ranking officer, was protected by other superior military personnel; consequently, there were few moles

Venezuela’s present is much more chaotic than predicted, and I warn that it can be even more serious if the president-elect, Edmundo González, a refugee in Spain, does not assume the position for which he was elected by the majority of the people.

Nicolas Maduro, Diosdado Cabello and the rest of the Janissaries* will be forced to change all the government and state paraphernalia, imposing “real socialism” – the Cuban kind – as the only method that will relatively guarantee them the preservation of power.

There are few countries that have suffered a totalitarian regime with the type of real socialism established by the Soviets from 1917, even fewer than those crushed by the Castro variant, one of the cruelest that can be considered, similar to North Korea or the Albania of Enver Hoxha, another bloodthirsty tyrant who ruled his country for 41 years, almost as long as Fidel Castro at 49 years.

Totalitarianism extinguishes the most elementary notion of justice and proscribes the enjoyment of freedoms, in such a way that the most complacent and ignorant subject realizes that everything has changed after it establishes itself. I emphasize this because many citizens do not understand, until they lose them, the invaluable greatness of the insignificant spaces they enjoy – the “little things,” as Joan Manuel Serrat would say.

Totalitarianism extinguishes the most elementary notion of justice and proscribes the enjoyment of freedoms

Sectarianism and intolerance will lead society to a state of perpetual tension. Civil society organizations, including trade unions, professional groups and other associations will become part of the gigantic transmission belt that will move the new state.

Economic activity depends on political interests. The owners will become the proletariat. Repression will be a part of the new state. The control exercised by fear is inconceivable in a society in which what is not expressly allowed is a crime.

Political parties will be declared illegal; there will be no elections, but there will be votes. Education will become a weapon of intimidation and control when private and religious schools disappear, assuming the characteristics of a State theocracy, since its leaders are now the new gods.

*Translator’s note: The Janissaries were the troops who protected the Sultan in Ottoman Turkey. The term also means “devoted allies and followers.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Castroism’s Interference in Venezuela

Hugo Chávez’s entering the Government turned Venezuela into the most loyal lackey of Castroism.

Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro, talking with Fidel Castro during one of his last public appearances / Granma

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 18 August 2024 — The totalitarian system that Cuba suffers and that threatens Venezuela if Nicolas Maduro and his henchmen are not removed from the government, has always been strongly attracted to the land of the liberator.

The tragedy afflicting Venezuela is the responsibility of Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. Both, with the support of stooges such as Maduro, conspired to rob the country of freedom and wealth and impose castrochavismo throughout the hemisphere.

The two revolutions were always different because there was a giant, a democrat, Rómulo Betancourt, who had the political courage to face the siren songs of Fidel Castro that enchanted the Ulysses wannabes.

With the support of stooges like Maduro, they conspired to rob the country of its freedom and wealth

After the turmoil of the first days filled with problems, upheavals and contradictions, Venezuela took a democratic course, Cuba marched towards totalitarianism.

From the beginning, the Pax Fidelista was imposed. Castroism was enthroned, which mutated into aggressive and expansionist absolutism that corresponded to the nature of the leader and the ideology he claimed to profess. continue reading

In Venezuela, many good people of dissimilar views were willing to work for the country’s progress. They were seduced by the promises of building a better society, even if the tools were machine gun chants and terrorism, advised by Che Guevara.

These men and women, in their eagerness to make their dreams come true, did not realize that they were submitting themselves to a foreign project in exchange for a little shrapnel and a rearguard in which part of the training consisted of learning to lose their freedom of judgment.

On March 13, 1967, Fidel Castro speaking from the former presidential palace in Havana said: “We proclaim once again our unwavering empathy and solidarity with the guerrillas fighting in the mountains of El Bachiller, with the fighters who in the cities defy the repression and the fury of the tyranny”. Castro qualified as tyranny the legitimately elected government of President Raul Leoni, not those of Maduro and Chavez.

July 26, 1960: the Cuban business representative in Caracas, Leon Antich, led a demonstration that threw stones at the capital’s cathedral. Antich was later accused of passing out 400,000 dollars to promote a conspiracy against President Rómulo Betancourt.

Castro defined as tyranny the legitimately elected government of President Raúl Leoni, not those of Maduro and Chávez

1961: Venezuelan authorities seize 500 Czech-made machine guns together with Castro-communist propaganda.

1962: A batch of weapons bearing the coat of arms of the Cuban Armed Forces were seized on the Falcón state beaches.

November 11, 1963: On the Paraguaná peninsula the authorities confiscated three tons of weapons coming from Cuba. Months later, Belgian weapons bearing the coat of arms of the Cuban Armed Forces were seized from Venezuelan guerrillas.

June 24, 1966: an expeditionary group composed of some 40 people, including thirteen individuals of Cuban nationality, among them General Arnaldo Ochoa Sánchez, who would be later executed by Castro, and General Leopoldo Cintas Frías – both were later heads of the Cuban occupation forces in Angola – landed in Tucacas. Specialists affirm that Castro himself said goodbye to the expeditionaries when they left Cuba.

May 8, 1967: the Cuban fishing boat Sierra takes an invading force consisting of Cubans and Venezuelans to the nearby areas of Machurucuto and Boca de Uchire. In the confrontation, Antonio Briones Montoto died and two other Cuban military men were captured: Manuel Gil Castellanos and Pedro Cabrera Torres.

1969: About thirty Venezuelans trained in Punto Cero, Cuba, landed in Venezuela to overthrow the government of Rafael Calderas. All of them were killed by the Army.

Despite all the blood shed by fire and shrapnel, the Castro project in Venezuela did not succeed. It is true that after the passing away of Presidents Romulo Betancourt and Raul Leoni, the Venezuelan leadership in the fight against Castro’s totalitarianism practically disappeared. Even so, the Venezuelan nation, its leaders and the Armed Forces condemned a political model that was against their democratic convictions.

The arrival of Hugo Chávez to the Government radically changed the situation. Venezuela is currently the most faithful lackey of Castroism and the best interpreter of the island’s totalitarianism regarding the plan to destabilize, to the point of destruction, the democracies of the hemisphere. For that reason, the Castroists are against Nicolas Maduro stepping down from power.

Translated by LAR

____________

The Silenced Voices of ‘Castrochavismo’

Despots, regardless of ideology or origin, deeply hate their fellow men

Part of a police operation in 2022 that surrounded the home of the Cuban reporter Luz Escobar, now exiled in Spain / 14ymedio

14ymedio / Pedro Corzo, Miami, 8 September 2024 — The vast majority of the political prisoners of the castrochavista regimes are young people, sometimes teenagers, who are practically beginning their lives and embrace, with full consciousness, the stanza of the Cuban national anthem that claims: “To live in chains is to live mired in shame and disgrace.” Despots, regardless of ideology or origin, deeply hate their fellow men, but there are two sectors of society that they especially despise: the young and the journalists.

The youth, because they know the willingness to take risks at that stage of life. Young people rarely properly assess danger, and that is probably what makes that period of our existence so magical and unforgettable.

There is a strong tendency to take risks, to defend ideals with sticks and stones, even if their enemies, like the serial killer Ernesto Che Guevara, enjoy the sound of machine guns.

The autocrats of castrochavismo, more than their military peers, like to censor and intimidate journalists and the media

The prisons of Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia are full of people sentenced for the honorable crime of justly claiming civil rights for themselves and the country.

In the homeland of the Liberator Simón Bolívar, despot Nicolas Maduro imprisoned around 100 young people between 13 and 17 years old for opposing electoral fraud. These teenagers were then released from prison with severe restrictions on their rights.

Nicaragua is not far behind. According to a report in the newspaper La Prensa, in May of this year, 66 of the 138 political prisoners were between the ages of 15 and 39. Even more tragic is the case of Bolivia, another autocratic state that does not recognize itself as such: its political prisoners, young and old, are barely documented. continue reading

However, in Cuba, the only country in the hemisphere where “real socialism” prevails, there are 1,119 political prisoners according to Prisoners Defenders, mostly young people, some sentenced to life imprisonment for illegally attempting to leave the country and others for participating in protest demonstrations.

The situation of journalists under these regimes of force is worse than what they suffered during the military regimes that overshadow the history of the hemisphere.

The autocrats of castrochavismo revel even more than their military peers in censoring and intimidating journalists and the media, with the ultimate goal of imposing permanent censorship until they achieve the ideal situation in which the communicators censor themselves.

Even more tragic is the case of Bolivia, another autocratic state that is not recognized as such: its political prisoners, young or old, are barely documented

The control or absence of the freedoms of expression and information is an almost constant practice in the countries of castrochavismo, Cuba again being the exception, because in that country all the media were confiscated in 1961 and remain under the absolute control of the Government 63 years later.

The rulers of these countries are ex officio censors, which is why they pay particular attention to the media, since they refuse to admit that information that refutes the official one is reported.

The situation in Cuba is quite unique. The censorship on the island is total. The media are controlled, and the journalists are officials, because they do not have the power to investigate or prepare a work that has not been previously subjected to censorship. Hence, on Castro’s island, independent journalism has emerged that involves great risks for the men and women who practice it.

The situation of journalists under these regimes of force is worse than what they suffered during the military regimes that overshadow the history of the hemisphere

In Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, the independence of the media has been severely restricted, to the extent that it is practically non-existent.

Nicolas Maduro, imitating a provision on the press issued by the Cuban dictatorship in 1999 – Law 88 on the Protection of National Independence and the Economy of Cuba – created the Strategic Center for Homeland Security and Protection (Cesppa), with the aim of “predicting and neutralizing potential threats from internal or external enemies.”

If Castro’s Law 88 was applied to the infamous Black Spring of Cuba, in which dozens of independent journalists were arrested, among other activists, Maduro’s Cesppa now provides invaluable services to the Venezuelan despot. The same happens in Nicaragua with a law of the Ortega-Murillo regime, which after controlling traditional media such as the distinguished newspaper La Prensa, intends to manipulate the Internet at will with its arsenal of legislation.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The Putrefaction of Castroism

Poverty is everywhere, along with fanatical sectarianism, from which sexual preferences does not escape

Photo of Rodríguez Street in Havana /14ymedio

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 1 September 2024 — Castro’s totalitarianism is immersed in a process of self-demolition regardless of acts against its opponents. The social crisis is very profound, consistent with the ocean of lies and myths on which he built his abusive fiction.

The population’s knowledge of the reality weakens social control and increases the lack of trust in the authorities. People are realizing that they have been deceived and manipulated, which does not satisfy anyone.

For decades, the vast majority of Cubans have suffered political repression; more than half a million citizens have passed through prison with sentences of between one day and 30 years. Thousands of people have been executed by firing squad.

The misery has kept its distance only from the elites. Poverty is everywhere, with the addition of a fanatical sectarianism, from which sexual preferences did not escape.

People are realizing that they have been deceived and manipulated, a reality that does not satisfy anyone

However, the regime, through surveillance and repression, hid everything that could damage the image of peace and tranquility that it sought to present to both Cubans and foreigners, including the social problems.

They did it so well that a popular song in which “Lola” was murdered at three in the afternoon, an atrocious femicide I would say today, disappeared from the radio waves, as did the red chronicles of the press media. continue reading

It was shocking: the media stopped reporting on weddings, baptisms and parties, in addition to murders and street fights, as if the endangered social class was responsible for the mess. Even more, rumors — “las bolas” [the balls] as we called them — were extinguished because they were misinformation, and with that accusation you could end up in prison.

Unfortunately, there was no lack of subjects who believed the stories, since they collaborated in the gestation and development of a complicit silence that hid political abuses and social injustices.

The Castros, by decree, made the public believe that in their paradise there was no domestic violence, no robberies and, even less so, murders, except those that the rulers themselves committed by executing thousands of their citizens for conspiring against them.

Even more, rumors, “las bolas” [the balls] as we called them, were extinguished because they were disinformation, and with that accusation you could end up in prison

It is true that violence in any of its expressions is present in every society. However, in Cuba, as part of the great farce that has been the totalitarian dictatorship, only the most immediate neighbors of the tragedy know the facts.

However, the exaggerated control that the totalitarian system imposed on everything related to information during the last 65 years is breaking at the political and social level, a result that will undoubtedly negatively affect its survival.

The Castro slogan of “Homeland or Death,” as the writer Jose Antonio Albertini points out, was useful for the narrative of a threatened homeland, but the supporters of totalitarianism realize that they no longer have a homeland and that only the dead and the prisoners remain.

The breaking of silence is not the will of the autocrats, but thanks to a new generation of journalists, very different from many of their peers in the early days of totalitarianism, who were silent out of fear or simply believed in the proposals of the false redeemer, the silence has been broken.

It is important and fair to recognize the risks run by those who strive to report from behind the walls of Castroism. They have chosen a difficult path, full of danger, in which the only sure compensation is jail and the satisfaction of fulfilling a duty.

It is an indisputable truth that social tension throughout the country is increasing

If political censorship was effective, social censorship has been even more so. I remember that the press, from time to time, reported a shooting or the capture of a group opposed to the dictatorship. On the other hand, it never reported a murder.

It is an indisputable truth that social tension throughout the country is increasing. Disagreements between neighbors sometimes can end in murder, and, as if that were not enough, social insecurity and a lack of police protection have encouraged robberies with homicides, as happened recently in the town of Ceballos, in Ciego de Ávila.

Social disintegration in Cuba affects everybody and is the sole responsibility of present and past authorities. The Island is an erupting volcano, and, hopefully, the explosion will be political and not social.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: