Pedro Corzo – Page 4 – Translating Cuba

Cuba: Spies to Order

The former US diplomat Manuel Rocha. (@AnthonyDaquin/Twitter)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 10 December 2023 — Castro’s totalitarianism never rests, it does not take vacations or holidays. It avidly feeds on its hatred of freedom, on its desire to eliminate the United States, which is why its intelligence service will always be ready to destroy that nation, while the repressive forces inside the Island do not give up their efforts to crush the opponents. In short, the perfect terrorist state.

Hence I was not surprised by the discovery of a new Castro mole in the spheres of American power. Unfortunately we must be prepared for subjects who, due to moral disability, economic reasons or any other cerebral deficiency, serve regimes contrary to human dignity.

The case of Ambassador Víctor Manuel Rocha demonstrates once again how efficient the Castro intelligence trappers are and how confident the officials of this country are who favor closer relations with the Cuban regime, the best ally that Russia, China and Iran have in the hemisphere.

There is no doubt that Castroism publicly seduced a significant number of people on the continent, some admitted their enchantment, others, apparently, maintained it in pectore, such as the accused spy Rocha and the unforgettable Mrs. Ana Belén Montes, an analyst with the US Defense Intelligence Agency, who confessed to having spied for Cuba for 16 years, resulting in her being sentenced to long years in prison. On the Island she would have been shot. continue reading

Unfortunately we must be prepared for subjects who, due to moral disability, economic reasons or any other cerebral deficiency, serve regimes contrary to human dignity

Those who favor closer relations with Castroism, Americans and Cubans, in the best of cases have a terrible memory, are very ignorant or there is something more rotten in their brains.

The Castros know this society from the inside. Even before coming to power, supporters of Fidel Castro in the July 26 Movement formed cells in the most important cities in the United States to support the insurgents, exert influence on the media and on the ruling class, particularly in universities and intellectual sectors, the objectives they prioritized and managed to continue to develop fully and efficiently.

These parties insist on ignoring that the alleged assassin of John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, led a Fair Play for Cuba Committee; that a senior Immigration official, Mariano Faget, transmitted information to the Government of Havana; that dozens of Castro agents were expelled from the United Nations for espionage; and that the Wasp Network caused the death of four young people when their planes were shot down by a Castro Mig.

Other cases that once attracted attention have apparently been forgotten. José Rafael Fernández Brenes infiltrated the US station TV Martí and his information helped the Cuban Government to interfere with the station’s signal, and the academics Carlos Álvarez, doctor in Psychology, and his wife, the psychotherapist Elsa Prieto, were convicted of spying for the Cuban regime.

According to the indictment, Álvarez had spied since 1977 and his wife since 1982. Also forgotten is the married couple Walter and Gwendolyn Myers, who spied for 30 years in support of the Cuban regime. Myers, who worked for three decades in the State Department, acknowledged, together with his wife, responsibility for spying for Cuba.

Those who favor closer relations with Castroism, Americans and Cubans, at best, have a terrible memory, they are very ignorant or there is something more rotten in their brains

Cuban spies have a lot of blood on their hands. Manuel Hevia Cosculluela published the book Passport 11333 in Cuba, where he confessed to having infiltrated the CIA and having worked alongside Dan Mitrione in Uruguay, a US agent murdered by the Tupamaros, trained by Castroism.

It is unknown how much ambassador Víctor Manuel Rocha will have benefited the Island’s totalitarianism, however, if he is found guilty he should be punished with the greatest severity for spying in favor of a criminal dictatorship and against a country that gave him the opportunity to serve as ambassador.

It is assumed that the accused is not the last as he was not the first, if we accept the statement of Lieutenant Colonel Chris Simmons, working in counterintelligence in the United States Army, who once told The Miami Herald that, between 9 and 18 months after the dismantling of the Wasp Network, the number of Cuban intelligence agents and officers in Florida had returned to the levels prior to the capture of that infamous espionage network.

The danger exists and will exist as long as Castro’s totalitarianism rules in Cuba.

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Migration Conferences for Castroism

Those first conferences were aimed at dividing the exiles from the mass of migrants who were not political. (Presidencia de Cuba)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, November 18, 2023 — The ability of the Island totalitarianism, despite its long agony, to develop strategies that to some extent extend its existence is really remarkable, a reality that is evidenced by the call for a Fourth Conference on the Nation and Emigration, two concepts that the dictatorship interprets at its convenience.

We must not lose sight of the fact that Castroism, in this conference and the previous ones, continues to attribute to itself the representation of the nation. Fidel Castro, from the day of the insurrection victory, on January 1, 1959, made public his claim to synthesize the nation and his Government in his person, as if he were a kind of trinity that symbolized what was most transcendental, the homeland.

Castroism, when it was politically convenient, galvanized its supporters by selecting those who went abroad and opponents as the enemy to hate. Yes, to hate. A simple act such as leaving your country in search of a better life was described as treason, and the traitor could not even give away his belongings. These were confiscated, and he was warned that he could not return to the abandoned paradise. continue reading

Undoubtedly, this manipulation of the environment, to the point of turning it into a lie, has yielded great fruits.

Undoubtedly, this manipulation of the environment, to the point of turning it into a lie, has yielded great fruits. A notable part of the population voluntarily bowed to the regime, while another sector, no less relevant, confronted it or decided to leave the country, with all the official repudiation that both actions implied.

To top it off, a revolutionary could not correspond with an exile, particularly if the exile resided in the United States. I remember a lady who said to her crying sister: “Don’t write to us because that could harm us.” However, a few months later, she was asking for assistance through their mother. That double standard has always been there for those who obey the Government.

The regime’s propaganda apparatus worked intensively on the population to incorporate into the popular creed the certainty that Fidel, the Revolution and Cuba were the same thing, so much so that the supreme dictator said: “Revolution is unity, it is independence, it is fighting for our dreams of justice for Cuba and for the world, which is the basis of our patriotism, our socialism and our internationalism.”

Those first conferences were aimed at dividing the exiles from the mass of migrants that did not declare themselves politically. In those times, potential aid did not matter; the one who left the Island, unless they showed regret and collaborated with the Government, was still an enemy.

The dictatorship believed that it could be self-sufficient and that the population was willing to die of hunger for the dreams of its pharaoh

Then, the dictatorship believed that it could be self-sufficient and that the population was willing to die of hunger for the dreams of its pharaoh.

From now on, other rules will apply. Exiles will be able to mutate into emigrants if they are willing to rehabilitate themselves by investing in Cuba. Of course, you should not worry that the conditions of the country are more chaotic than when you abandoned it, and that your assets could be confiscated by decree, due to the chronic lack of legal security.

Trusting the Cuban regime is a crass mistake. The mental structure of its leaders has only known how to take advantage; hence, they changed national sovereignty for the billionaire Soviet subsidies, which, after the USSR was exhausted, they would associate with a military coup until leading Venezuela into bankruptcy.

Throughout these more than six decades the regime has squandered billions of dollars, without forgetting that a good part of this fortune was wasted by the heirs of the ruling class or is in the bank accounts of corrupt officials.

That money does not only come from the Soviet and Venezuelan funds. There is also money from foreign investors who trusted the promises of Castroism, particularly from Spanish businessmen, although these had their investments guaranteed by Madrid, a condition that emigrants who invest will not have.

The Castro-Díaz-Canel Government is only trying to survive. The principles went to the garbage can of History, as the maximum leader liked to say. Yesterday’s enemies become allies if they are able to pay the toll assigned to them. For Castroism, even in the life of its commander, everything has a price, which many of us are not willing to pay.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Progressives, the Cubans and Israel

An Israeli tank on the border with Gaza on November 12, 2023. (EFE/EPA/Neil Hall)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 12 November 2023 — While the totalitarian regime that has prevailed in Cuba for 65 years, minus two months, has almost always enjoyed favorable public opinion, the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel, is still the target of many of those who defend Castroism.

Cuban democrats, like Israelis, are, in the mentality of these groups and organizations, targets to be destroyed. However, they represent just causes that have never had the necessary international support to achieve the objectives that encourage them.

Their enemies, who consider themselves progressive, liberal and leftist, do not care that the Jewish nation promotes democracy and the rule of law. They simply share with the Nazis the hatred of a people who defend civil and religious freedoms, where the norm is between absolutism and military dictatorship.

They prefer to ignore that Israel is a free geographical and cultural space, in a region where authority is based on military might or religion. Without being perfect, Israel should be an example for those continue reading

who defend freedom and human rights. The Israeli State is concrete evidence of material progress and well-being for those who reside in its territory.

Cuban Democrats, like Israelis, are, in the mentality of these groups and organizations, targets to be destroyed

However, it is a country that suffers permanent harassment from its neighbors. Israel has been subjected to true international isolation and frequent military conflicts, with the aim of eliminating it as a nation, as advocated, among others, by the theocratic State of Iran.

The terrorist actions against Israel, such as those of last October 7, are a brutal reflection of the hatred advocated by the serial killer Ernesto Che Guevara: “The intransigent hatred of the enemy, which pushes beyond the natural limitations of the human being and turns him into an effective, violent, selective and cold killing machine.” This phrase could have inspired the executioners of the Tribe of Nova festival.

Complicity with Guevara is not exceptional. It shows the frivolity and hypocrisy that reign in some international organizations, non-governmental organizations and famous universities that present themselves as standard-bearers of justice but have placed themselves at the service of the worst causes.

Guevara defended violence out of conviction. It was the instrument in concentration camps for homosexuals in Cuba. There are hundreds of testimonies about the murders he ordered, and, however, this did not prevent the UNESCO World Memory Program, in all its categories, from accrediting and rewarding his work, in addition to the fact that Guevara and Fidel Castro were proud of their cemeteries. As Guevara said at the United Nations, in 1964: “We have executed, we have shot, and we will continue to kill as long as is necessary.”

These actions are incomprehensible and force us to unearth the moment when Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, spoke in 1974 at the United Nations with a gun on the table in front of him.

I do not dispute the fairness of the Palestinian cause, but the beheading of children and indiscriminate murder should not be protected or silenced, as some sectors claim

Ideological commitments lead to omitting or changing the facts. When the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet died, the headline of the newspaper El País said: “Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet dies.” However, when the Cuban autocrat died, the headline read: “Fidel Castro, the last revolutionary, dies”, as if he had not been another dictator with a horrendous criminal record.

I do not dispute the fairness of the Palestinian cause, but the beheading of children and indiscriminate murder should not be protected or silenced, as some sectors claim. Nor should persecutions be justified by race or religion, as the enemies of the Jews are doing in many parts of the world. They are acts repudiated by the United Nations itself and should be severely punished.

Cuban totalitarianism also inspires the progressives to misrepresent the facts. On the Island, citizens’ rights are systematically violated; those who profess ideas contrary to the official proposal are imprisoned; total censorship of the media is practiced and bloody events such as those of the unforgettable tugboat massacre on March 13 occur, with dozens of deaths, including children. However, his allies present Castro totalitarianism as a victim of the United States and of the exile community.

They speak of a blockade or embargo, which has more holes in it than gruyere cheese, without alluding to the vileness of the rulers and the true blockade of Castroism.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: The Confusion of Interests

Raúl Castro(L), Daniel Ortega(C) and Nicolás Maduro (R). (Twitter)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, November 5, 2023 — Freedom is by far the greatest good of the human being; hence the commitment to defend it as appropriate, a reason that forces us to be alert and not believe in redeemers who promise the salvation of our prerogatives, if we follow them like rats do the flute player.

Behavior, which I fear, is being put into practice by many people in different parts of the world, when they arrange for individuals who are not subject to any control to decide about their lives, despite the fact that no one has the right to forget that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

What happens in countries like Cuba, with Castro-Díaz-Canel, in short, is 65 years of totalitarianism. The autocrats, Ortega-Murillo, in Nicaragua, 27 years of government in two periods. Hugo Chávez and Nicolas Maduro, 24 years of despotism between the two. Bolivia, with the phoney Evo Morales, 13 years in office with the aspiration of returning to government to perpetuate himself, which should be inadmissible to any honorable person who has self-respect.

These rulers achieved power thanks to the fact that to a large extent their peoples allowed it, either because they were confused by promises, well-spoken truths or the charm that can emanate from these subjects. continue reading

Frivolity is burying us, along with our lack of interest in accessing conflicting and balanced information, even if we have access to it

The will of the citizen majority folded to suggestive siren songs that promised, cunningly, to make the most paradoxical dreams come true, ceding, to achieve them, their citizens’ rights, in addition to practicing a criminal intolerance and plunging them into an aberrant indolence.

This reflection is the result of an experience, at a friend’s house, that left me dismayed, because I found intelligent people, with a great reputation for commitment to freedom and democracy, passionately defending Vladimir Putin, ignoring the persecution he executes against the opposition and the close relations he maintains with the Castro tyranny.

These friends and acquaintances, in my opinion very confused, justified the aggression against Ukraine. No one alluded to the presence of Cuban mercenaries there, nor to the fact that Putin, like the aforementioned autocrats, has been ruling Russia for 23 years, and that when he was not president he played at being prime minister.

All this demonstration was in a framework of severe criticism of President Joe Biden for his help to Ukraine. Needless to say, I do not sympathize with the president and his government, but I do believe that the support given to Ukraine is vital, just like the one offered to Israel and the one that can be given to Taiwan. They are countries that are in the first line of fire against predators who are a threat to everyone.

Of course, I couldn’t stay calm and entered the arena, with a friend who had already had that experience. They argued that the former KGB colonel was defending our values by attacking Ukraine. They repeated that fascism was a serious threat, as if the despots of any ideology were not, and that Putin was against the social currents that seek to replace the family, which may be true, but that does not justify a war of aggression like the one that the head of the Russian government sponsors, nor his alliance with Castroism.

It goes without saying that I do not sympathize with the president and his government, but I do believe that the support given to Ukraine is vital

It is difficult to neutralize this confusion that arises, in my opinion, in the laxity of many of us against those contrary to our rights and in allowing those same individuals to exercise them. Frivolty is burying us, along with our lack of interest in accessing conflicting and balanced information, even if we have access to it.

Those of us who have suffered regimes of force or imprisonment know that the power held by the army, regardless of the place they occupy in the chain of command, is destructive. Their ability to cause suffering is difficult to imagine, turning our desire to survive into an everyday odyssey.

I fervently believe in democracy with all its imperfections. Knowing that the authorities can be revoked, being able to get rid of the great man or the donkey that we wrongly chose. Being able to tell the subject who commands rifles and cannons that he is not in charge, that he was left without a job and it is time to leave, is a right that we are obliged to defend until the last breath.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Maria Corina Machado and the Rescue of Hope in Venezuela

Former Venezuelan deputy María Corina Machado celebrates with allies and followers the results offered by the primary elections commission, in Caracas, on October 23, 2023. (EFE/Miguel Gutiérrez)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, October 29, 2023 — Venezuelans committed to democracy have once again set an example of perseverance and commitment to their country. An achievement in which the leadership of María Corina Machado, a woman with overflowing courage and convictions, has been essential.

Machado overwhelmingly defeated her rivals and enemies. Even more importantly, she managed to get her fellow citizens, both inside the country and abroad, to take to the streets to vote, a sovereign right that despots try to violate.

The electorate believed in her with such fervor that they voted massively in her favor, despite the difficulties implemented by the autocrats, among others, the disqualification of the candidate, a condition widely repudiated by the voters with the resounding support they gave her.

Castro-Chavismo breathes into its governed at least two terrible viruses: hopelessness and the certainty that the end of tyranny can only occur with foreign help. continue reading

The loss of hope is the most pernicious thing that a people can suffer

Hopelessness is caused by the high level of frustration of the governed. A feeling that is proportional to the duration of the mandate one suffers and corresponding to the enthusiasm generated by the demiurges who propose to be gods.

After the initial exaltation caused by a populist victory full of demagoguery and falsehoods, comes a daily life that demands work, discipline, probity and perseverance; a management in which the people of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia have been able to confirm that their autocrats, in addition to being corrupt, have been inept.

The loss of hope is the most harmful thing that a people can suffer. It is true that there are those who do not stop fighting, even if the blackest darkness surrounds them; however, the majority of citizens need to see a light, however minimal, at the end of the road, a dawn that, evidently, María Corina Machado, an exceptional leader, has made it possible for her people to perceive.

My admired fellow prisoner, the ambassador Armando Valladares, wrote an anthological book about that feeling entitled Against All Hope. It is that in prison all hopes can die just as under tyrannies, although, unfortunately for tyrants, they are never lacking. Jose Martí’s white roses in the most lush field of thistles and nettles.

Machado spread hope among Venezuelans. She erased the many mistakes of these years, including those of her colleagues who timidly tried to reproduce the behaviors and speeches of their enemies. The candidate germinated confidence again and restored the certainty that it is possible to enjoy a better life, with a promising future for one’s children.

The journey was uphill, never without danger. She challenged Nicolás Maduro and Diosdado Cabellos, two individuals with a terrifying criminal record. However, the path that remains is no less complex and abrupt, which is why the candidate continues to need to count on the support of her forces and herself, to continue fully interpreting the feelings and needs of her supporters.

Hope has been recovered and I trust that the Cuban experience demonstrating that there are committed allies will become certainty for those who suffer regimes that perpetuate themselves because they know how to choose their enemies.

The candidate germinated confidence again and restored the certainty that it is possible to enjoy a better life, with a promising future for one’s children

Castro-Chavismo stigmatizes the opposition when it accuses it of being a foreign agent and it mutilates itself if it comes to believe that outsiders will be firm allies in its efforts, which motivated the apostle Jose Martí to write: “The enemies of the freedom of a people are not so much the strangers who oppress them, as the timidity and vanity of their own children.”

I was a partial witness of that magical Venezuelan enthusiasm. I shared with friends and strangers the joy of glimpsing a better future, even more so, the expectation of seeing the clouds covering El Ávila hill again or simply driving under the towers of Silencio.

I even dreamed that we Cubans, one day, would be able to have a similar experience and, suddenly, an aside from the poet Antonio Machado came to me, “Walker, there is no path, you make the path as you walk*.” In both Cuba and Venezuela, there has been no shortage of walkers who have given everything for their rights, and pilgrims like María Corina Machado, imitating the poet, with enough awareness to look back without repeating the path that leads to slavery.

*Translator’s note: From Antonio Machado, 1917

Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino y nada más;
caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante, no hay camino,
sino estelas en la mar.

Wayfarer, only your footprints
are the path, and nothing more;
wayfarer, there is no path,
you make the path as you walk.
As you walk you make the path,
and as you turn to glance behind
you see the trail that you never
shall return to tread again.
Wayfarer, there is no path,
only wake trails on the sea.

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Cuba: Totalitarianisms’ Dangerous Business Vision

A small and medium enterprise (mipyme in Spanish) in Havana, Cuba. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, October 14, 2023 — Castroite totalitarianism is reinventing itself by launching the rise and development of small enterprises, an activity that would not be possible if the ruling class weren’t strongly involved with the opportunistic objective of preserving power.

I confess that I do not believe in the good faith of Cuban autocrats. They’ve demonstrated more than enough skill to manipulate the population and other people of good faith, without excluding professional climbers who only seek to promote their own interests. Subjects whom we all know.

The heirs of those who belong to “the new class” — as Yugoslav Milovan Djila would wisely identify them — is greedy for the wealth and wellbeing that competes with the resentment and sectarianism of their predecesors. Nevertheless, they do no want to leave the government, which would mean losing their invaluable prerogatives.

On March 13, 1968, with the so called Revolutionary Offensive — which eliminated close to 60,000 small private businesses that had survived other confiscations by Castroism — Fidel realized his dream of building a kind of trinity comprising him, the Revolution and Cuba. continue reading

The confiscations were so absurd, says writer Jose Antonio Albertini, that a high-ranking government official, Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, one of Castro’s loyal servants, opposed the measure alleging that socialist countries like Czechoslovakia and Poland hadn’t implemented that option. The Castros never listened to the claim.

To grow, the ’mipymes’ need the least intrusive government possible, a condition the Cuban authorities never grant, due to their controlling and arbitrary nature

One year later, Christmas was banned on the Island by governmental decree. The regime declared July 25, 26 and 27 official holidays. The caudillo assumed the role of messiah. We had a new national religion with a vanguard of loyalists, which we could have referred to as Castro’s inquisition, supported by mass organizations the leaders of which, to the rythm of songwriters of totalitarianism, emulated the sadly famous Tomás de Torquemada.

Some will remember that, parallel to the scarcity and the snitches of the Committees in Defense of the Revolution, the firing squad was deafening and more jails were built, because death and prisoners were the only thing the regime produced.

Until 1968, we had lived under an iron-clad and bloody dictatorship. As of that date, we began to suffer one of the most severe and disastrous totalitarian regimes to ever exist, accumulating, by imposition, failures, misery and a profound disenchantment among most citizens.

We can’t deny that imposing totalitarianism relied on the complicity of a large number of citizens and that the counteroffensive we live today, contrary to the nature of absolutists, isn’t orphaned by the support of other Cubans on the island and abroad either, which trust that Miguel Diaz-Canel and his servants, through economic freedom, will drive the Island toward democracy, as if Xi Jinping’s China were free.

The extreme poverty created by even the most modest confiscations — barber shops, hair salons and even the closure of the miserly shoe repair establishments — led to strengthening the state bureaucracy with the creation of consolidated enterprises that managed the businesses confiscated by sector.

We cannot deny that imposing totalitarianism relied on the complicity of a large number of citizens

Certainly, although the inefficiency was enthroned in the country, humor was not lacking, people would say that the most important business was Ecochinche — Bedbug Management Company — that horrendous parasite Castroism had imitated to perfection because it has spent more than six decades bleeding the people dry, plundering their allies and stealing from business owners who, trustingly, have invested in their properties.

The micro, small and medium enterprises have always existed and, luckily, many of them were the starting point for large companies that, due to their efficiency and creativity, have been pillars of universal development. However, to grow they all need the least intrusive government possible, conditions the Cuban authorities will never grant, due to their controlling and arbitrary nature.

In any given Latinamerican country, even the poorest, small businesses which are now called mipymes exist. The governments allow them to be created and grow without restrictions, in contrast to what happens on the Castros’ Island, where even to travel abroad a permit is required and the approval of political commissars. From there, my doubts about the legitimacy of management that should benefit Cubans, more than its despots.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Where Are You Going, Colombia?

Protesters with banners and speeches against the Government walk the streets in Cali (Colombia). (EFE/Ernesto Guzmán Jr.)

14ymedio Pedro Corzo, Miami, 7 October 2023 — I visited Colombia a few days ago on a tourist and family trip. In both visions I could see that the Government doesn’t have much sympathy. A significant number of those who say they voted against President Gustavo Petro seriously question those who elected him. Even more, I saw graffiti on historic walls that, among other criticisms, asked the president why the cost of living had become so expensive.

When I traveled to Venezuela for the recall referendum, in 2004, I told my Venezuelan friends that I had the perception that, with or without cheating, Hugo Chávez would win. Now I wonder how Petro won the elections last year if most of the people I talked to, almost entirely unknown, spoke against him. I did not see any fear of the authorities, since the individuals talked freely.

My first stay was in the fabulous Cartagena de Indias. It is a city full of contradictions. Its historic walls always move me, but what pleasantly impressed me was the progress in the modern area called Bocagrande. Hopefully Gustavo Petro will not be determined to destroy the development achieved, as his peers in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua did when they took power. Their eagerness to curtail freedoms and end economic and social advances is unhealthy and criminal. continue reading

When I traveled to Venezuela for the recall referendum, in 2004, I told my Venezuelan friends that I had the perception that, with or without cheating, Hugo Chávez would win

Bocagrande – or South Miami, as some call it – is beautiful, vibrant and rich, with the busiest beaches in that part of the country, although I confess that I still prefer the walled city, with its convents and its legends of apparitions. By the way, the assistant in a bar we visited told us that she would never be alone in that place because she had already had a scare. In addition, the churches, aged buildings, car rides and the San Felipe de Barajas castle transport us back in time.

The history of that part of the city is that of the entire hemisphere, of our most emblematic villas of the colonial era, in which at least two Cuban cities are distinguished, Havana and Trinidad. By the way, one of the guides told us that a certain Cuban was considered a hero in colonial times, for his leadership in an insurrection.

In Cartagena, at one of the restaurants where we had lunch, I sampled my first coconut lemonade, a real feast for the palate. There, inadvertently, politics broke out. The lady who served us, realizing that we were all Cubans with the exception of my wife, brought out her artillery against the president. She described how much life in the region had changed for the worse and the many fears about the future that overwhelmed the citizenry, both rich and poor. She was critical of the presidential flirtation with irregular groups, including drug traffickers, and of his approach to the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.

Our arrival in Medellín coincided with Petro’s visit to the United Nations, where he was snubbed and overshadowed by the remarks against the mayor of the city, Daniel Quintero, an ally of the president.

Quintero is noted for having forged a strong business alliance with Venezuelans who enriched themselves under the autocracies of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro

Quintero is noted for having forged a strong business alliance with Venezuelans who enriched themselves under the autocracies of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. A harsh report by the newspaper El Colombiano describes a network of interests, which offers grounds for a judicial investigation so that a conscious electorate does not vote for the candidate who supports the current office holder.

In the capital of Antioquia, in the face of renewed criticism of Petro, I asked again how he had been elected. The answer did not surprise me: my interlocutors said that it was the vote of the young people, trusting in the Petrist promises, that brought him to power. A pity, because the leaders resemble the brothers Castro, Chávez, Maduro, Daniel Ortega and Evo Morales, in my opinion Gustavo Petro’s fellow travelers, the ones who most damage the possibilities of achieving a society like the one that the despots promise in their speeches.

I told my friends Horacio and Consuelo Puertas that Colombia enjoys spaces that no longer exist in the Castro-Castrochavista States, with a very energetic civil society that will be difficult to crush. However, I suggested with great respect that they could not be negligent, because “the shrimp that falls asleep is carried away by the current.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Resistance, the Cuban Way

Exile leaders and former Cuban political prisoners during a press conference in Miami, on February 15, 2023. (EFE)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 23 September 2023 — The everlasting will of the Cuban exiles to overthrow totalitarianism is as proverbial as the solidarity shown by those same exiles with their relatives on the Island, despite the intense propaganda deployed by the Castro authorities and, in particular, by the Cuban Government’s fellow travelers residing abroad, who try to show that the opposition, in order to end the dictatorship, is willing to sink the country where they were born.

The Cuban exile has shown a very unique perseverance and dedication for his country. Just as inside Cuba there has never been a lack of freedom fighters, abroad there have also been men and women ready to take the risks required to participate in the return of citizens’ rights to the Island.

The darkest decades of the opposition in Cuba, I dare to say, was in the period from 1960 to 1980, illuminated by the resistance of political prisoners and the creation of the Comité Cubano Pro-Derechos Humanos [Cuban Committee for Human Rights], inspired by Ricardo Bofill.

It was also one of the periods in which the banishment was most active, as shown by the constitution, among others, of the Cuban Patriotic Junta, by Manuel Enrique de Varona, and the Cuban American National Foundation, by Jorge Mas Canosa, as well as by the constitution of Independent and Democratic Cuba, led by Commander Huber Matos and many other former political prisoners like Ángel de Fana and Reinaldo Aquit Manrique, whom prison hardened in their already firm convictions.

Signs of that tenacity and drive are not often found in History. I affirm that the opponents abroad are vibrant and as committed to overthrowing the dictatorship as they were when this struggle began more than 60 years ago.

“I affirm that the opponents abroad are vibrant and as committed to overthrowing the dictatorship as they were when this fight began more than 60 years ago”

This gives cause for us to feel proud, because the evidence of that resistance and dedication to a more-than-just cause exists in the young and old, as shown by the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, founded in 2009. In my opinion, because of the efficient work it does, under the coordination of Orlando Gutiérrez, it has managed to motivate not only Cubans, but also numerous politicians from different countries who work hard to bring democracy to Castro’s hell.

It’s important to note that the commitment is still present in those who left Cuba to study in the so-called socialist countries, as shown by the intense activity they carry out in Europe against totalitarianism. There are groups such as Miscellaneous of Cuba, Cuban Observatory of Human Rights and Prisoners Defenders, in addition to personalities such as Zoé Valdés and Alejandro González Raga.

These former students are among the most tenacious and active enemies of the regime. There are groups in Europe that develop an intense activity in favor of democracy in Cuba, also in other regions of Latin America such as Puerto Rico, where there is a personality like Gerardo Morera, 88 years old, who does not stop promoting the fight for democracy in Cuba, while working intensively to preserve our traditions, supporting and managing the patriotic Casa Cuba de San Juan.

Of course, there are several states in the U.S. where the main foci of resistance are located, with South Florida, particularly Miami-Dade County, being the vital nucleus for most Cuban organizations. They use different strategies to fight Castroism. Some, such as Alpha 66, directed by Ernesto Rodríguez, have been doing so for more than six decades.

Those of us who are already approaching eight decades of life, or the 90s, such as Roberto Perdomo – 28 years in prison in Cuba, 23 of them in underpants for rejecting the common prisoner’s uniform – must be very proud, because young people born in the United States, such as Daniel Pedreira, have made a firm commitment to everything that has to do with democracy in Cuba. Others, such as the aforementioned Orlando Gutiérrez, who left Cuba before adolescence, are examples of dedication and sacrifice as were their elders, who were executed or served decades in Castro prisons.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Castroism and Human Trafficking

A group of Cubans who were recruited to fight on the Russian side in the war in Ukraine. (Mario Vallejo/Facebook)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 16 September 2023 — Human trafficking is one of the greatest aberrations that people can do, but when a government does it, it’s hard to find a qualifier.

The Cuban authorities have always trafficked their citizens; even worse, they have integrated into the population the idea that this commerce is a legal and moral practice. For the regime, as long as it is profitable, it is something positive for the government to provide mercenary services to a foreign nation or to any military force that requests it.

At least a large sector of two generations of Cubans grew up under the influence of their parents, who participated in mercenary wars in the service of the extinct Soviet Union and the imperialist will of Fidel Castro. The last Spanish-speaking imperialist army in the world was Cuban, not Spanish.

Castro’s totalitarianism has historically participated in any criminal activity that benefits it regardless of how many moral or legal parameters are broken. It has always been associated with three of the most criminal transgressions: narcotics trafficking, human trafficking and terrorism. continue reading

The Cuban authorities have always trafficked their citizens; even worse, they have integrated into the population the idea that this commerce is a legal and moral practice

This sowing of false values, greed, selfishness, impunity and injustice, to refer to just a few, is showing itself with all its indignity in the close collaboration that Cuba lends to Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine, again using its citizens as cannon fodder to please Moscow.

It is not surprising that Castroism sells this to its citizens, but it must be a concern that young people are willing to participate in an unjust war, contrary to the values proclaimed by José Martí. It must hurt us that they die and kill, not to defend their homeland but to obtain benefits to which any citizen in the world has the right: to leave the land in which they are unhappy.

Cuban youth, certainly, suffer from an overwhelming level of frustration that leads them to act in search of the level of survival they want without dwelling on the damage they cause, as shown in a report by Radio Martí, by filmmaker and journalist Luis Guardia, with the collaboration of colleague Ivette Pacheco.

In the report, Caridad Díaz says that her son, Alex Rolando Vega Diaz, at the time at a Russian military base, told her that he preferred to “die from Ukrainian bombs than from hunger and sadness in Cuba,” which shows the degree of despair that the population of the Island has reached due due to Castroism.

The regime’s reaction to these events does not surprise anyone. It repeats the same script as when the ruling leadership was accused of drug trafficking, such as Causa Nº1, in which henchmen from the upper echelons of totalitarianism were prosecuted.

The staging is similar. Havana claims to have arrested several people linked to the operation. In other words, a totalitarian government like the Cuban one, which boasts of the social control it exercises in the country, was unaware of an operation in which the main beneficiary was its most important ally, Colonel Vladimir Putin.

Cuban youth, certainly, suffer from an overwhelming level of frustration that leads them to act in search of the level of survival they want without dwelling on the damage they cause

This farce of the arrests led the activist Jaimiel Hernández to wonder when Díaz-Canel will start Causa Nº2, adding that Raúl Castro, again, will be the main accuser of regime officials who are guilty, saving the scarred face of the dictatorship.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, once again, proves to be the most faithful servant, although without talent for inventing new scoundrels. It is and will always be the wildcard that ensures that the new class created by the fateful Castro brothers continues to perpetuate itself in power, destroying the Cuban nation.

For Castroism, the only mercenaries are those who oppose it; those who repress and kill when they are at its service are honorable people who should be imitated. Doctrinal education and manipulation are leaving a very negative sequel for the future of the Cuban nation, with a pernicious mafia that will survive the regime and that we will painfully know as the Cuban mafia when it should be called the Castro mafia.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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Maria Corina, Alert!

María Corina Machado during a rally in the coastal state of La Guaira, in northern Venezuela. (@MariaCorinaYA)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 9 September 2023 — I feel a deep admiration for those who fight for their convictions and rights, people always willing to face real risks without fear of the consequences, which, fortunately for those of us who love freedom and the enjoyment of our citizen prerogatives, are never lacking.

The most recent display of heroism, with a tragic result, was exemplified by the candidate for the presidency of Ecuador Fernando Villavicencio, who, in the face of the numerous threats to which he was subjected, said: “The only thing they can do is kill me, and with that we liberate an entire people.” This was an example of exceptional value, because he was aware that he was going to be killed.

The murder of Villavicencio did not intimidate other Ecuadorian candidates and freedom fighters. Nor those who, in other countries – such as María Corina Machado in Venezuela – are immersed in an electoral campaign in which the assassins are also the referees.

The fiefdoms of Castro-Chavism are oiling their weapons. In Nicaragua, the nefarious Ortega-Murillo couple has increased repression against priests and other citizens. However, the resistance is not extinguished, as demonstrated, among others, by Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lago.

In Cuba, with almost sixty-five years of resistance, there are 1,047 political prisoners according to Prisoner Defenders. Among them, José Daniel Ferrer and families such as the Navarros – father and daughter in prison – Félix and Sayli, whose mother is a Lady in White. The same happens in Bolivia, where the recycling implemented by Evo Morales and Luis Arce Catacora has raised the number of political prisoners to more than 200, including former president Jeanine Áñez. continue reading

Venezuela, one of the countries where the opposition suffers the most, is in the middle of an electoral campaign, facing all the obstacles that the autocrats of organized crime are capable of

Venezuela, one of the countries where the opposition suffers the most, is in the middle of an electoral campaign, facing all the obstacles that the autocrats of organized crime are capable of. Specifically, the almost-certain electoral fraud. There are, according to reports from the Criminal Forum of Venezuela, at least 282 political prisoners, including the former student leader and former deputy Juan Requesen, who suffers the harassment and abuses of the henchmen of the Castro-Chavista dictatorship who, evidently, share the common denominator of violating the human rights of those imprisoned.

However, opponents of dictatorships do not cease in their struggle for freedom, as evidenced by the presidential candidate María Corina Machado, who, over the years, has reliably demonstrated that she has plenty of moral integrity, talent and willingness to face the dangers that Nicolás Maduro, Diosdado Cabello or any of his henchmen put on the path of the struggle for freedom.

Her participation in the civil organization Súmate – of which she was one of the founders and executive director – demonstrated a great capacity for work and the necessary courage to insist on the defense of constitutional rights, including electoral rights, always threatened by the scam of the so-called socialism of the 21st century. In addition, she faces the constant manipulation of the National Electoral Council executed by Chávez, of which Maduro has demonstrated a supreme mastery.

It is possible that, as never before in the past – and although they have always been present – women feel the threat that the proposals of the despots of Castro-Chavism mean to the integrity of the family, dangers in the face of which they have taken transcendental steps that have led them to the leadership positions to which they are entitled.

The constant and unlimited participation of women in these libertarian movements has been on a par with that of men

The constant and unlimited participation of women in these libertarian movements has been on a par with that of men. Consequently, in the electoral processes, the one that can best serve must receive the greatest popular support, without gender having any relevance.

The engineer and former deputy Machado is the favorite candidate of the Venezuelan electorate. She has always shown a firm attitude, without capitulation to Chavismo, which has led the henchmen of the despots to beat her and threaten her numerous times.

María Corina Machado has always been a stone in the shoes of the despots of her country, just like other women in Nicaragua, Bolivia and Cuba who have never given up the fight. This has been done for decades by Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello and the aforementioned political prisoner Sayli Navarro, who, since childhood, when her father went to prison, has denounced Cuban totalitarianism.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: Opposition and Opponents

Demonstrators in the Plaza de Cibeles, in Madrid, during the “March for Cuba” held in August 2021. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, August 26, 2023 — Developing an effective political opposition in a democratic society is a complex and delicate matter, but when a dictatorship is challenged, the situation worsens drastically, since the purpose of autocrats is the permanent conservation of power and, for that, they must destroy the opponents before they become a force capable of dethroning them.

Reflecting on this motivated the former political prisoner Amado Rodríguez, 23 years behind bars, to say: “In Cuba there are many opponents, many brave ones, but it has not yet been possible in these more than 60 years to articulate an efficient opposition because the dictatorship prevents it, with its frequent raids, plus the iron social control it exercises over the population.” One of the first requirements of absolutism is to impose severe control over the citizenry through systematic, continuous, and brutal repression.

Another factor is the economic poverty of the opponents, particularly when the dictatorship acts within the framework of a totalitarian system.

Elections, even in democracy, are difficult and complex, so it is not difficult to imagine under dictatorships such as those of Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, how false elections are called, particularly after the experiences of the autocrats Rafael Correa and Daniel Ortega, who called for elections without properly securing the fraud.

On the other hand, since public management is a monopoly of the State-Government, the political operation of opponents is extremely complicated, a factor that does not prevent the appearance of opponents, although it does not cease to be extremely dangerous to develop and articulate an efficient opposition that can successfully challenge the government. continue reading

In order to bring together a viable opposition, it is essential to involve, with total commitment, a percentage of people similar to the sector that makes up the hard core of power. Let’s say that any of our despots has 35 percent of the electoral mass identified with their program; if so, the opponent must have a similar support if they want to compete with chances of success, and that is with the assumption that the elections are not rigged.

One factor that fully plays in favor of these rulers is the proliferation of candidates. When there are many challengers, even if it is in the primaries, the opposition force is divided, unless the candidates and their supporters have an absolute desire for change, regardless of who leads it.

In addition, there is a situation, despite how often it has been repeated, which has not served as a lesson to opposition leaders, and that is that the regime, being aware of the electoral farce that it promotes, does not make concessions regarding to the electoral power, knowing that the opponents, due to their democratic discourse, are obliged to participate in a certain way, even though there are not sufficient guarantees for the elections.

Facing a dictatorship, particularly the populist ones of any sign, demands great moral solvency and a lot of courage. Autocrats, politicians, or simple criminals, do not respect differences and resort to crime without contemplation, also, they have plenty of guard dogs, who, believing, that they interpret the will of their masters who are almost never wrong, tear enemies to pieces.

In addition, it is important to highlight that one of the fundamental characteristics of these regimes is the high level of political participation of the population. It is difficult to find indifference. One is against or in favor, the most notable being anger, irascibility and intolerance, which makes an appearance in discussions related to public affairs a situation that invariably ends in favor of the authority.

It should not be ignored, I consider it the basis of this column, that political predators, be they Castro-Chavistas, Marxists or Fascists, do not consider those who oppose them as mere rivals or adversaries; for them, those who reject them are enemies to be destroyed physically and morally. Consequently, those who do not agree that their living conditions should reflect the decisions of others, and whose opinions are censored, must prepare to face deadly enemies, who seek our destruction.

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New Economic Actors in Cuba

Puesto de Buenas Vibras [Good Vibes Post], a private business, at the Linea Cultural Station Fair, in El Vedado. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, July 29, 2023 — I have rarely addressed Cuban economic issues or those of any other country, but upon receiving my fellow prisoner and friend Juan José Estrada a statement from the Vice Minister of the Food Industry of Cuba, Midalys Naranjo Blanco, I have no choice but to venture into one of the great failures of Castroism.

The official stated that the Cuban seas did not have enough fish to feed the population, a sovereign nonsense that shows the stupidity of those who hold power in Cuba, never because of competition, but because of their unrestricted submission to totalitarianism, distinguishing themselves among all of them, Miguel Díaz -Canel.

I share the vision of many friends that the most capable assets of the regime have always worked in two ministries, the Police and the Armed Forces, and it cannot be denied also in Foreign Affairs, but this is a unit of the branch that directs the repressive forces.

It must be remembered that, despite the corruption that existed in Cuba and with all the money that Fulgencio Batista and the hierarchs of his regime allegedly stole, in 1958 our country ranked third in Latin American reserves of gold, dollars and convertible securities. Gold: with 373 million dollars was only below Venezuela (1,050 million) and Brazil (465 million); and sixth place in the continent in gross national income, 2,834 billion for a population of 6.6 million inhabitants.

It is worth noting that contrary to what is currently happening, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in calorie consumption, Cuba was only behind Argentina with 2,730 calories per person. In 1957, the FAO itself highlighted that Cuba was the largest exporter of agricultural products in Latin America in proportion to its population. Today it imports a large amount of food, including from the United States, 328 million dollars, and this, with the embargo.

True, we did not live in a paradise, nor in the hell of the present, but we were the third country in the region, in 1958, with the most number of telephones, newspapers and cars per 1,000 inhabitants. continue reading

I recently read that the dictatorship, through the State-run Cubatramite [literally “Cuba paperwork”] agency, is promoting MSMEs ( micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises), as Estrada affirms, “a socialist invention to save the economy that they themselves sank when they abolished private companies,” particularly small businesses, including the most insignificant, creating countless government companies that confused the population while still having fun, such as the famous Ecochinche, the Consolidated Company of bedbugs.

Let’s remember, including the blind, who did not want to see the disaster, in 1968 all self-employment was prohibited. Even the shoe repairer, the traditional scissors sharpener and the home-based barber, was eradicated, on pain of going to prison.

They must remember, especially the Castroites of the time, that on March 13, 1968, the government expropriated 11,878 bodegas, 8,101 restaurants, including street frita stalls — which sold the Cuban hamburger — 4,544 mechanics shops, 3,345 carpentry shops, 6,653 laundries, and an endless list of small businesses passed to the State.

The confiscation and closure of the 3,198 bars was the only time I saw the drunk on the block upset with the dictatorship, the one who most vehemently calling for an execution, and it was because his favorite bar, El Hatuey, had been closed. Overnight it was politically incorrect to have a drink.

Those entrepreneurs, or as they say today, better still, with pure Castroite language, “new economic actors,” had their assets confiscated regardless of whether the workplace was in their own home.

I clarify that the seizures would have been many more, but the inventory of small businesses had been reduced, among other reasons because people who were sentenced to prison for political reasons, had all their assets confiscated, however modest they were. And I am not mentioning the large companies that had disappeared from the economy several years earlier.

In short, Fidel Castro and his henchmen, in one of those many crazy nights, robbed 55,636 MSMEs that were on the Island, all Cuban properties, most of which were staffed by family and friends, employing more than two million people.

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No to the Deportation of Free Cubans

Ramón Saúl Sánchez (center), leader of the Democracy Movement, during a protest in Miami. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, July 22, 2023 — The topic that I will address below is an issue that has not been dealt with much, if at all, by the so-called Cubanologists in exile, a very complex curia that brings together academics and experts in the Cuban plot, as well as explorers and posh opportunists, not to mention other specimens, part of the congregation, who provide services to the enemies of Cuba’s freedom.

In the United States, there is a significant number of Cuban citizens who are threatened with deportation, for having violated some legislation in force in their fight against the totalitarian Castro regime, the real threat to this nation and to those who defend freedom and citizen rights.

These people did not commit crimes for personal gain, but rather to destroy the staunchest enemy of democracy and freedom in the hemisphere. They are fighting the main promoter of a political model that violates all the rights of the citizens of the country that ensnares, as is the case in Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia and is a real threat to many of our republics, such as Honduras, Argentina, Brazil or Mexico, without the rest of the countries ceasing to be among their objectives.

The deportation of any citizen to Cuba entails serious dangers for their well-being and life, but when that extradition is of a staunch enemy of the regime, as is the case of Ramón Saúl Sánchez and other compatriots residing in this country, we can be sure that they will be subjected to the most criminal and abusive practices that the henchmen of Castroism are capable of carrying out, without excluding death from their extensive recipes of terror. continue reading

Ramón left the Cuba he loves so much, although he barely knew it, when he was only 12 years old. His life has always been marked by exile with all that this implies of uprooting and family separation, and taking precedence over all conditions is his commitment to fight for freedom and democracy for his country.

That obligation led him to be during his youth to become one of the most notable and committed activists in the confrontation with totalitarianism, getting involved in the only form of struggle that the dictatorship made possible, overthrowing the dictator by violent methods.

Sánchez told a journalist from the EFE agency the causes of the setbacks he suffered in such a precise way that no one should have any doubts about his integrity and commitment to the rights of all. His truth is reiterated in Cuba despite the decades that have elapsed: “My homeland lives the terrible solitude of oppression, the tearing of families and the violation of its sovereignty.”

Sánchez, for acting in accordance with his convictions, went to prison for four and a half years. He refused to testify before a federal grand jury investigating an alleged 1980 attack on despot Fidel Castro in New York. Ramón’s civic conscience led him to be a conscientious objector to the denunciation that was demanded of him. He simply acted like so many other citizens who are opposed to participating in a war for reasons of conscience.

Ramón spent more time in prison than many criminals, but it did not affect his spirit, on the contrary, he came out of prison strengthened in his ideals and with a new vision of the fight for democracy that many did not understand at first. His perseverance and sacrifice have been well received by those who do not make concessions to the insular tyranny.

Sánchez has become a remarkable civic leader, with a hemispheric vision of freedom that sets him apart. He is in solidarity with all the oppressed regardless of the border where he was born, he fervently believes in non-violence and, to make public the demand for his rights and those of others, he has carried out several hunger strikes and returned to prison.

This conscientious objector risks being deported. His activism for many years is shown in civil disobedience and in public demands in favor of those who seek protection in this country and in organizing flotillas of boats to protest in the vicinity of Cuba, because his enemy is Castro’s totalitarianism, not the United States of America.

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Cuba: The Violence of the 26th of June, the Peace of the 11th of July

The moment when several young people overturned a patrol car at the corner of Toyo, in Havana, during the protests on 11 July 2021. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, July 15, 2023 — We have reached the second anniversary of the peaceful protests led by young Cubans on 11 July 2021, and close to the 67th anniversary of the bloody attack on the Moncada barracks, organized and directed by Fidel Castro on 26 June 1953.

The protests of July 11th did not have the objective of seizing power, as was always the ambition of the Castro brothers and their acolytes, although it is fair to recognize that the demands for “freedom” from these young people, who have been imprisoned, imply a deadly demand to all tyranny.

The attack of July 26, 1953 was the starting point for the destruction of the Republic of Cuba. What seemed to be a new revolt in the convulsed history of the nation, was the beginning of a tragedy that has demolished Cubans, and the country, to its deepest roots.

In reality, it was another violent act in our history, perhaps the most poorly planned and worst executed under the command of a particularly ambitious gang member with messianic airs, who never spared any damages in order to achieve his goals. Undoubtedly, the attack on the military stronghold transformed Fidel Castro into a kind of star of the cult of violence on the Island and abroad. He vertiginously stopped being a university gangster with a pistol at his belt, to become the champion of all those who wanted to do justice, for themselves and in their way.

Unfortunately for Cuba and the hemisphere, Fidel Castro, although he failed as a ruler, succeeded in his intentions as a snake charming piper because he managed to get many people to follow him and even impose his political formula of taking power and keeping it until death. For examples, at least four: Hugo Chávez, Evo Morales, Nicolás Maduro and Daniel Ortega. continue reading

The seduction that Castro’s proposals exercised over his national and foreign supporters does not differ much from that achieved by his teachers Adolfo Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin. Regardless of the ideology that each one of them promoted, they always found eager subjects to implement their delusions, which have always resulted in more violence, destruction and death.

It is true that the attack on the Moncada Barracks and the Granma expedition were a resounding failure. In addition, the guerrilla in the Sierra Maestra, the supposed invasion to Las Villas and the final attack on a falsely armored train, have been oversized feats, we must recognize that the survivors of the assault, particularly the Castro brothers, imposed a regime that is close to sixty-five years old and outlived its main builder.

It is a great truth that Castroism has nothing to be proud of, but unfortunately the history of Cuba cannot be written without making reference to the mandate of Fidel Castro, for many scholars, the most extensive dictatorial exercise in history.

Fidel Castro’s return to politics was the consequence of the lack of identity of purpose of another dictator, Fulgencio Batista, who decided to release the Moncada attackers a few months after their confinement despite having caused the death of 18 of his men and wounding 28 others. Nine of the assailants died and 11 were wounded, although, according to this information, numerous attackers were executed immediately after their capture, sparing Fidel Castro and his brother, Raúl, their lives, apparently, even to kill one indulged in indulgences.

Paradoxically, the protesters of 11 July 2021 without murders to their charge, received much higher sanctions than Fidel, who, being directly responsible for dozens of deaths, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, of which he only served 22 months, without limiting his human rights.

The results of the 2021 protests, the blood shed, was the work of totalitarianism, with several hundred prosecuted and sentenced, with at least 36 of them sentenced to between 5 and 25 years in prison for the crime of sedition, is another strong evidence. Since the dictatorship does not voluntarily give up its prerogatives, it must be wrested from it, as the Bronze Titan, Antonio Maceo, wrote: “Freedom is conquered at the edge of the machete, it is not requested; begging for rights is typical of cowards incapable of exercising them.” Honor to the youth of July 11.

Honor to the youth of July 11th.

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Castro’s Tortures

Inmates in the Combinado del Este are subjected to discriminatory treatment, labor violations, and physical and mental torture. (EFE)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 10 June 2023 — The NGO Prisoners Defenders, led by Javier Larrondo, has presented a report entitled “First Comprehensive Study on Torture in Cuba,” a well-prepared work that demonstrates how the Cuban totalitarian regime ruthlessly abuses its citizens regardless of age, sex or any other condition.

According to the document, the work began in 2022 based on 15 patterns of torture and 181 victims, who “served as a random and statistically representative sample of a group of 1,277 civilian political prisoners, all of them tortured in Cuban prisons in the last 12 months.”

“Eighty percent of those random cases suffered more than five types of torture, and children and young people are two of the most tortured groups. Gabriela was a protester on 11J who went to prison at the age of 17. According to written and oral testimony, the guards made her squat, put their fingers in her vagina and threatened to rape her. She still suffers emotionally from the many things they did to her, says the document.

This kind of research is fundamental for those who remain determined not to see the tragedy that the Castro regime has meant for Cuba and Cubans, a situation that undoubtedly repeats itself in Havana’s allies (Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia), as well as in other countries that are attracted by totalitarian temptation.

In 2012, under the direction of the filmmaker Luis Guardia and the pro-democracy activist Francisco Paco Lorenzo, we produced a documentary entitled Castro’s Tortures, a historic film that can be found on social networks, which shows how from the moment Fidel and Raúl Castro came to power, torture and the violation and abuse of human rights have not ceased on the Island. continue reading

The film begins with Castro saying that in Cuba there has never been repression, torture or murder, and it continues with former political prisoner Abel Nieves responding that even as a teenager he was tortured. They put him on his back, his arms at his sides, unable to move, with water running over his body. He concludes by saying that he spent seven days in that wet coffin, one of the gloomy drawers of the Atares Palace in Havana.

Abel, a 21-year-old prisoner, was a man of great moral integrity but very affected by the numerous abuses he suffered. His dedication to the Cuban democratic cause was absolute, and his commitment throughout imprisonment was extremely remarkable.

Orestes Pérez, a 28-year-old prisoner, like other prisoners in Topes de Collantes, was tied to a large stone and thrown into a pool to get him to denounce his companions. Evelio Ancheta was savagely tortured in the gloomy cabañitas with sudden and radical temperature changes. He was also thrown tied up into a swimming pool, and the family was misinformed about his condition. Aurelio Hernández, in the same place, was injected with sodium pentotal, received electric shocks and was subjected to simulated shootings , as was Rigoberto Hernández. Prisoner Annete Escandón did not suffer from mental problems but was given 20 electroshocks in the Mazorra hospital for three months, the same as other prisoners, including Raúl Salazar, who suffered severe consequences from the torture.

It would be painful to describe all the witness statements in the documentary. In addition to physical abuse, there are “violations of labor rights, the legislated violation of due criminal process, the violation of multiple fundamental rights and freedoms such as freedom of thought, expression, assembly, association, movement and religious freedom, among others. Other aspects are the legislated impunity for abuses by the authorities, arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, provisional imprisonment and the lack of defense lawyers in Cuba.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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