December 30, 2005
Counting (c)astro's Victims
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page
December 30, 2005; Page A17
"On May 27, [1966,] 166 Cubans -- civilians and members of the military -- were executed and submitted to medical procedures of blood extraction of an average of seven pints per person. This blood is sold to Communist Vietnam at a rate of $50 per pint with the dual purpose of obtaining hard currency and contributing to the Vietcong Communist aggression.
"A pint of blood is equivalent to half a liter. Extracting this amount of blood from a person sentenced to death produces cerebral anemia and a state of unconsciousness and paralysis. Once the blood is extracted, the person is taken by two militiamen on a stretcher to the location where the execution takes place."
-- InterAmerican Human Rights Commission, April 7, 1967
This weekend marks the 47th anniversary of the triumph of the "26th of July Movement," which many Cubans expected would return their country to a constitutional government. (f)idel (c)astro had other ideas of course, and within weeks he hijacked the victory, converting the country into one of the most repressive states in modern history.
Waiting for (f)idel to die has become a way of life in Cuba in the past decade. Conventional wisdom holds that the totalitarian regime will hang on even after the old man kicks the bucket. But that hasn't stopped millions from dreaming big about life in a (f)idel-free Cuba.
Cuban reconciliation won't come easy, even if (f)idel's ruthless, money-grubbing little brother Raul is somehow pushed aside. One painful step in the process will require facing the truth of all that has gone on in the name of social justice. As the report cited above shows, it is bound to be a gruesome tale.
The Cuba Archive project (www.cubaarchive.org1) has already begun the heavy lifting by attempting to document the loss of life attributable to revolutionary zealotry. The project, based in Chatham, N.J., covers the period from May 1952 -- when the constitutional government fell to Gen. Fulgencio Batista -- to the present. It has so far verified the names of 9,240 victims of the (c)astro regime and the circumstances of their deaths. Archive researchers meticulously insist on confirming stories of official murder from two independent sources.
Cuba Archive President Maria Werlau says the total number of victims could be higher by a factor of 10. Project Vice President Armando Lago, a Harvard-trained economist, has spent years studying the cost of the revolution and he estimates that almost 78,000 innocents may have died trying to flee the dictatorship. Another 5,300 are known to have lost their lives fighting communism in the Escambray Mountains (mostly peasant farmers and their children) and at the Bay of Pigs. An estimated 14,000 Cubans were killed in (f)idel's revolutionary adventures abroad, most notably his dispatch of 50,000 soldiers to Angola in the 1980s to help the Soviet-backed regime fight off the Unita insurgency.
The archive project can be likened to the 1999 "Black Book of Communism," which documented the world-wide cost of communism, noting that "wherever the millenarian ideology of Communism was established it quickly led to crime, terror and repression." The (c)astro methodology, Cuba Archive finds, was much like that used in Poland and East Germany, less lethal than Stalin's purges, but equally effective in suppressing opposition.
In the earliest days of the revolution, summary executions established a culture of fear that quickly eliminated most resistance. In the decades that followed, inhumane prison conditions often leading to death, unspeakable torture and privation were enough to keep Cubans cowed.
Cuba Archive finds that some 5,600 Cubans have died in front of firing squads and another 1,200 in "extrajudicial assassinations." (c)he (g)uevara was a gleeful executioner at the infamous La Cabaña Fortress in 1959 where, under his orders, at least 151 Cubans were lined up and shot. Children have not been spared. Of the 94 minors whose deaths have been documented by Cuba Archive, 22 died by firing squad and 32 in extrajudicial assassinations.
Fifteen-year-old Owen Delgado Temprana was beaten to death in 1981 when security agents stormed the embassy of Ecuador where his family had taken refuge. In 1995, 17-year-old Junior Flores Díaz died after being locked in a punishment cell in a Havana province prison and denied medical attention. He was found in a pool of vomit and blood. Many prison deaths are officially marked as "heart attacks," but witnesses tell another story. The project has documented 2,199 prison deaths, mostly political prisoners.
The revolution boasts of its gender equality, and that's certainly true for its victims. Women have not fared much better than men. In 1961, 25-year-old Lydia Pérez López was eight months pregnant when a prison guard kicked her in the stomach. She lost her baby and, without medical attention, bled to death. A 70-year-old woman named Edmunda Serrat Barrios was beaten to death in 1981 in a Cuban jail. Cuba Archive has documented 219 female deaths including 11 firing squad executions and 20 extrajudicial assassinations.
The heftiest death toll is among those trying to flee. Many have been killed by state security. Three Lazo children drowned in 1971 when a Cuban navy vessel rammed their boat; their mother, Mrs. Alberto Lazo Pastrana, was eaten by sharks. Twelve children -- ages six months to 11 years -- drowned along with 33 others when the Cuban coast guard sank their boat in 1994. Four children -- ages three to 17 -- drowned in the famous Canimar River massacre along with 52 others when the Cuban navy and a Cuban air force plane attacked a hijacked excursion boat headed for Florida in 1980.
The horror of that event cost one more life: After visiting survivors in the Matanzas hospitals, the famous revolutionary guerrilla Haydée Santamaría, already in despair over the massive, inhumane boat exodus from the Port of Mariel, killed herself. That was a tragic admission of both the cost and failure of the revolution. The only riddle left is how, 25 years later, so-called "human rights" advocates like Argentine President Nestor Kirchner still embrace the (c)astro regime.
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113590852154334404.html
Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) http://www.cubaarchive.org
Posted by Mora at December 30, 2005 11:52 AM
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Comments
brilliant article.
It goes hand in hand with the article in the NY Post http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/books/59382.htm
on the murder of 70 million by Mao. All these despots have so much blood on their hands enough to fill an ocean.
Posted by: mike pancier at December 30, 2005 12:12 PM
Thank you, Mora, for this post.
Coverage of this situation by such a prestigious news organization, particularly in view of the fact that it was carried out by non-Cubans, ought to go a long way towards educating those who refuse to see. They simply must be peppered with thoroughly thought out, well-documented evidence, again and again and again, until they make the decision to open their eyes and admit the ugly truth.
castro's days are numbered, no doubt about that. A warning to his defenders: You *will* be held accountable for your words --and for your despicable actions-- in its defense. History is about to catch up with youm and it will not absolve you. As they sing in The Lion King: "Be Prepared!"
JulioZ
Posted by: Julio C. Zangroniz at December 30, 2005 12:21 PM
Too bad the MSM long ago made the choice to support this murderous dictator. Imagine the difference one good expose on castro's Cuba from say "60 Minutes" decades ago would have made. There are a lot of hands stained with Cuban blood in this world, and ditto Julio, they will be held accountable. Thanks Mora.
Posted by: ziva at December 30, 2005 01:22 PM
What a depressing and sad article, but so, so TRUE and so needed to be out there. Wonderfully written, should make anyone at least reflect on the brutal murders of so many people.
Posted by: adriana at December 30, 2005 01:57 PM
What an excellent writer! Another of the few non-Cuban journalists that haven't taken the Castro cool-aid.
Very refreshing.
Thanks Ms. O'Grady for telling it like it is.
Posted by: Max at December 30, 2005 02:57 PM
You can make a donation and have your name posted as a supporter on the Active Supporters tab of the site. I didn't see Robert Redford or Stephen Spielberg listed there.
In fact, the only non-Spanish name there is Ambassador Dennis Hays. So come on Babalu Yanquis - show the world that it isn't only the Miami Mafia that wants castro et al held accountable on the day of reconing.
Posted by: Scott at December 30, 2005 03:38 PM
Great post. The link takes you to Wall Street Journal sign in page. The article can be seen in PDF format here: http://www.cubaarchive.org/downloads/CA22.pdf
Posted by: Hank at December 30, 2005 07:18 PM
November 8, 2005. "UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for the 14th time to condemn the four-decade-old US trade embargo against the Cuban regime of President Fidel Castro.
By a vote of 182 in favor, four against and one abstention, the assembly decided to include on the provisional agenda of its next session an item entitled "necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba."
Votes in the 191-member General Assembly have no legal basis but do reflect international opinion. Only Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau joined the United States Tuesday in voting against the resolution."
Since we're in the mood for accounting, Will the US be held accountable for deaths attributable to its 45yr campaign of trying to overthrow their government by impoverishing the Cuban people?
Posted by: Jose at December 30, 2005 08:08 PM
When I read comments like Jose's, one of my favorite quotes comes to mind. . .. "You can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and still come out completely dry." Somehow, some people manage to remain dry. :) Melek
Posted by: melek at December 30, 2005 10:47 PM
Jose,
Are you stupid, a paid Castro apologist, or both?
The only one "impoverishing" the Cuban people is Fidel. I am fed up with the ignorance of idiots like you. Take your stupidity where it will be appreciated, www.granma.cu.
Posted by: Max at December 30, 2005 10:47 PM
Gee Jose, I'm so glad that the UN decided to put their colective feet down and try to punish the world for impoverishing the Cuban people...oh wait, it's not the "world" who's commited to a Cuban Embargo, it's only the US.
That being the case, where has all the profits from trade with Europem Aisa and South America gone?
Since it's only the US refusing to trade with Fidel why are the Cuban people not swimming in the bounty of European and Aisian and South American trade and products?
Becasue Castro is a theif you ignorant little prig, he steals the food from Cuban mouths, he steals clothes from Cuban backs, he steals money from Cuban wallets and every day he is alive he steals, piece by piece, the souls of the Cuban people.
One day he will be gone from this earth and I will then fly to Cuba and stand on the huge line to piss on his grave...untill then piss on you.
Posted by: Mordwyn at December 31, 2005 06:30 AM
