Babalu Blog

Mr. Conductor Gomez: This is a totally distorted account of our Code Pinko activities. In Cuba we did travel across the country in our protests against the U.S. in Guantanamo and no one beat us, many Cubans loved us, physically. That's why I keep returning to my heavenly island. I once was married to a big buck Cuban sports official and he was the only Cuban who ever beat me to a pulp. That's why I divorced him and left Cuba in 1983. Likewise, I do not appreciate Enrique Encinosa and Nelson, who on the TV program Arrebatados yesterday kept mocking my name and calling me by my birth name Susan. I liberated myself from that name and adopted a more feminist name.

Ah, the greek chorus at Babalu grows. To date we have:

Bernardo Penes
Marifea Perez-Unstable
Lisandro Peo
Carmelo Meca gado

And now Meada Benjamin.

LMAO.

Code Pinko slogan at Hillary's is: Pull out now!!! not just for the war but for everything else.

My feelings are mixed on this. It was great to see the people there to respond to Medea and her pack of pinkos. By going to Versailles, it's obvious that she was looking for a confrontation, and she got it.

However, once again, some of the Cubans in attendance took the bait, hook line and sinker.

Being there to demonstrate against Codepink is fine, but why the slurs and running towards the truck? Haven't these people learned that Codepink and those like them are there to provoke, illicit a reaction, and then claim that they're the victims? Instead of holding their ground and showing class in the face of idiots, they had to make a even bigger spectacle. I'm not indicting everyone that was there, as I'm sure it was a small group that attempted to get more aggressive.

Nevertheless, this has the signs of another PR hit for the Cuban-American community. Why oh why do we allow 6 idiots to bring us down, once again?!

You know what I'm done with pulling my hair and gnashing my teeth about things like this. No matter what anyone does, the exile community is never going to come out of it with positive press. Screw it. We can't control the actions of a few old men, and if the media is dumb enough to generalize, it's their problem. As far as those old men go, in my mind they've earned the right to tell those bitches exactly what they did and more. Don't come into the lions den with a stick, you might just walk out with it impaled in an an orifice. Imagine if you had your house, your way of life, your country stolen from you and had to deal with some ugly broad telling you how great the guy who stole all of this from you is. You'd probably react violently too.

Henry,

I completely understand their frustrations, even if I never lived through it myself. But that's NO excuse for violence, none whatsoever.

El Nuevo Herald has an article leading up to the demonstrations in which it mentions Radio Mambi personalities and other groups exhorting the community to NOT display violence. So it's obvious, even if THE MIAMI HERALD decided not to publish that article, that the prevailing attitude in the community was one of peaceful demonstration.

I'm as tired of the incomplete and unfair media perception as you are, but unfortunately if we're going to live in the world of Cuban issues, we're going to have to deal with this and not be afraid to call a spade a spade. I'm tired of a few people f&^$ing up all the hard work we've done to intelligently promote our side of the story.

Robert,

I wonder if that "small group that attempted to get more aggressive" were put there by the regime. I wouldn't put it past their Machiavellian public relations schemes. Ana Margarita Martinez pointed that out when we interviewed her this week, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/BloggingforLibertad/2008/01/07/Interview-with-Ana-Margarita-Martinez-former-wife-of-Cuban-spy-Juan-Pablo-Roque

-Jorge L.

Jorge,

There's always that possibility but the people usually responsible for these things are from Vigilia Mambisa. Like I said, I'm not going to condemn someone who had their entire life stolen by an evil regime for getting physical with people who came there specifically to provoke a reaction.

Let's look at what Codepink did. They specifically went to the epicenter of the Cuban community to create an incident. They knew the people that would be there would be opposed to them. It's not like when we go to Versailles for an event. We go for support, not looking for a fight.

These odious women were looking for a fight and they got one. Fuck 'em.

I agree with Robert. Code Pink should have been ignored. As far as I am concerned Posada Carriles is a liability to the Cuban exile community. The man is unstable. He has put many people on the spot with his big mouth, embarrassed the Bush Administration, our congressmen, the late Jorge Mas Canosa, etc... He is nothing more than an albatross around our necks. Anyway, perhaps a good way to deal with Code Pink could have been to have a silent group of Cuban Americans standing in front of El Versailles Restaurant holding up posters with pictures of political prisoners who are currently serving time Castro's jails. This was, after all, a transparent publicity stunt on the part of Code Pink and a group of unsophisticated Cuban Americans fell for it, or worst, as Jorge points out, there is the possibility that the people who tried to attack Medea Benjamin were infiltrados trying to make us look bad.

There are ways of dealing with Code Pink and ilk in a sophisticated manner. We have to remember to walk a fine line because the press is always out there ready to attack us. Yes, they attack us anyway, but why give them free ammunition?

That's right, screw 'em.

Look at how a small group of leftwing lunatics have held SanFran hostage for 4 decades. I'll be so glad when that entire generation of baby booming bums becomes compost and ceases to do damage.

I'm with Henry - tough shit. Why do we always have to be the reserved ones who stand by while the left clobbers us with their 'righteous' anger. As Henry said, they came looking for a fight and we shouldn't have to stand by and take the abuse. It's a free country - both ways. They protest, and we counter-protest - no one was hurt. The left is vicious, aggressive and mean-spirited - they deserve some of their own medicine. The actions of Code-Pink are not much different from the actions of the Chavez supporters in Venezuela. I heard Carlos Alberto Montaner say that the world seems to uncritically accept the Left's support for 'liberation movements', but goes apopletic when conservative, 'right-wing' movements fight back. He felt that freedom-loving people have as much right to be aggressive in pursueing their goals and not apologize for defending their views. I look at this event as a minor example of Montaner's observations. We need to strap on a pair of balls and start fighting back every chance we get - the Left can eat shit and die for all I care.

Henry,

I agree that Code Pinko came out looking for a fight, to make us look bad, obviously. As most of us here, I also personally know people whose lives were ruined by the regime, friends and family both, but none of them would react violently at these idiots' instigation, which leads me to believe that those who react in such a way must be planted by the regime. But regardless, whether they are infiltrados or not, their reaction has the same effect, giving the exile community a bad reputation.

-jl

Ray: agree with you 100% on Posada. He's caused much more trouble for us than it's worth.

Anyway, perhaps a good way to deal with Code Pink could have been to have a silent group of Cuban Americans standing in front of El Versailles Restaurant holding up posters with pictures of political prisoners who are currently serving time Castro's jails.

Exactly.

You know what, were I in Miami I would have proudly been at Versailles with the 200 counter protesters waiting for these bitches. As far as Posada, the lengths to which Cuba and Venezuela and all their collaborating whores are willing to go to continue the persecution of this war hero I think shows exactly his worth to our community. I don´t care how old, cantankerous or anything else he’s become. You don´t abandon old warriors.

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with Juan Amador of El Intransijente restaurant. Although I felt at the moment that the worst thing we could do as a community would be to react strongly to the antagonizers, he replied with a valid point; that type of mentallity is what the "revolution" depended on in the beginning. Those who opposed castro's movement simply ignored him with the idea that no attention would equal no success. We all know how that turned out.

Juan felt, and rightfully so, that ignoring these idiots would only embolden them to do more and before we knew it, we would find ourselves in a hole we could never climb out of. He felt we, as a community, had to respond to these people if only to exhibit that we were not willing to stand by and allow them to insult and provoke us in our own backyard, unchallenged. At the end of our conversation, I had to agree with him that a complete acquiesence to these vile purveyors of hate would come back to haunt us.

Although I do not believe the way events turned out today were optimal, I also believe that no matter what we did, our response would have been portrayed negatively, regardless. The good thing is that these "ladies" (my mother taught me to be polite to anatomical women, always) will leave this town without the notion that the exile community has changed its stripes like some local members of the Cuban-American with political aspirarations who have chosen their own political gain over what is justice and what is right have been trying to convince the world it has.

To the pinko anatomical ladies I say, welcome to the real world!

Alberto,

Violence vs. silence is a false dichotomy. I agree we must react, but let's be smart about it. Let's react in a way that advances our cause.

-Jorge L.

P.S.: I realize you're not advocating violence. It's just shorthand for "wrong-headed reactions."

Isn't Pinko used to define someone communist ?

Those are really ugly broads !

Most of the time, no news is better than any news. If you gave me a choice between the two extremes: Codepink marching down Calle Ocho all by themselves and a violent crowd, I would choose the former any day. Anyway, it's not like we're going to change the minds of a bunch of radicals. They have no reputation and honor to uphold. We do.

Unfortunately, this visit by Codepink was a lose-lose proposition for this community. If we ignore them, they claim victory and tout the end of the "hard-line" exile community. If we counter protest, we're portrayed as violent brutes out to silence those that disagree with us.

I do not agree with the way the events unfolded today, but in all fairness, there was nothing we could have done right today in the eyes of the world.

Our cause requires more than one event to turn it around. But by the same token, if we sede any more ground, we may as well go home and forget about everything we have fought for because up until now, it has taken a lot of work and effort just to remain relevant.

"Meada" Benjamin, huh? You should join forces with "CubanUrinal," you two sound like a match made in hell.

First of all, the article is misleading. Medea Benjamin is not a "peace activist" but would better be described as a terrorist herself. She was one of the principal architects of the 1999 protests in Seattle where rampaging anti-globalization activists burned cars, smashed windows and generally sowed disorder in a failed bid to shut down a conference of the World Trade Organization. Benjamin hailed the riots, which caused millions of dollars in property damage, as “a battle cry.” Her history of anti-American "activism" goes back decades, she's a co-founder of Global Exchage as well as Code Pink, and did indeed spend time living in Cuba.

Robert, personally, I don't think you should ever ignore your enemies or accept their insults without response, and I hardly think ripping some pink tule and shouting words falls under the category of violence.

Alberto,

I'm sure we could've done something that could not possibly be misconstrued as violence, holding pictures of political prisoners and other castro victims, rhetorically asking "are these terrorists too?" or something along those lines. If the media still portrays us as "violent brutes", then so be it. You're right that no one event will turn around our image, but we have to start somewhere, as bucl.org tries to do. I had no idea the pinkos were coming. Perhaps we could've planned a bucl.org reaction.

-Jorge L.

Henry Gomez: Thank you for not including me in your Greek chorus list. After all, I do not have a funny name like all those others who, I will admit, are my friends. I did get acorralado with a teenage prostitute in Flagami by the police, but worse than that, parece que Bernardo echó tremenda Benjamin después que se tiró un Lisandro, y terminó todo Carmelo.

For the past 45 years, the Cuban exile community has never been portrayed positively by the mainstream media, no matter what we do. The Miami Herald article is a good example. They omitted reporting the number of Code Pinko provocateurs present. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Jewish Defense League did bombings and violently confronted neo-nazis, but the media never called them "terrorists." When the Nazis marched in the Jewish suburb of Skokie, Illinois, the press screamed that it was an unjustified provocation against people who included Nazi concentration camp survivors. Yet, the mainstream media has never demonstrated the same empathy for Castro's victims or our community. After members of Vigilia Mambisa chased away the four Chavez "Bolivarian Youth" provocateurs last year, they have not returned to protest in our community. I guarantee you that Code Pinko will not dare come back again to provoke us in our community. We must give our enemies a clear message that we will protect our community from their vulgar provocative intrusions, no matter how bad the media will portray us. The more fierce we are depicted, the better. It's a form of preventive medicine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI81unmTDJ4 ................Here is a video of CODEPINK saying that our troops are Terrorist and Terrorizing Iragi people...starts our slow but listen right after the 2 minute mark, it gets better...when CODEPINK is addressed about when they went to Cuba and ignored the Women in White...the Codepink spokesman says..(basically ignores the question)..."What does that have to do with Iraq?!!!!!!!!...PATHETIC!..it continues and then they laugh and try to play it off.

Those Codepink middle-aged ugly skanks are unfuckable, like Cindy Sheehan. I bet they are dragging freight cars loaded with emotional baggage, frustration and distrust, from years of use and abuse.

Meada Benjamin is a urinary tract infection in our community in need of social prophylaxis.

Let these code pink Communist pigs demonstrate with white robes, hoods, ropes and the burning crosses of the KKK in Miami and let’s see what kind of reaction they provoke. Better yet. Let them go over to Miami Beach and have them stage a demonstration wearing swastikas and speaking in favor of the PLO or Hamas and against Jews, and more than likely we will have a repeat performance of what happened in Skokie, Illinois on July 25, 2006. The way I see it, what happened today in front of Versailles Restaurant was child’s play.

Posada Carriles is one of the few who has consistently put his life on the line to rid the world of the castro regime. fidel has fucking nightmares about the guy. I'd rather have Posada than Cindy Shehan or that Meada bitch.

I have asked Meada Benjamin to join me in a Code Pink tour of the Middle East to hug Hamas suicide bombers in an attempt to bring peace to the region.

Henry, dude, what are you doing up so late blogging on Saturday night? I am almost done with my copy editing assignment. Give me a call so that we can go cruising Flagami in my Acura. I need a good lookout.

Henry, you should have called me. I just got back from cruising Flagami. Dude, it was HOT and cheap. Met a recent balsera who purported to be 18 but looked 15. I hope my probation officer doesn't find out.

Ziva,

The Vigilia Mambisa people reportedly tried to rip the poster off the truck, and were seen running down the streets looking for Codepink's stupid red truck. They were looking for trouble, just as they got last year with the Chavez dorks. If we're willing to accept this type of behavior, then we also need to accept the flack we're going to get from the community...and we better not whine about it afterwards.

The Miami TV news coverage included interviews with couple of the Mambisa folks, but also interviewed Meada and she came across, very predictably, as the victim who had to seek refuge at City of Miami Police HQ because of the harassment. Isn't it obvious that this whole thing was staged, and that Codepink got exactly what their game plan called for? They looked like the ones advocating free speech and protection, and Vigilia Mambisa once again somewhat resembled the castro turbas in Havana. What a shame.

I never advocated NO action, just the proper action. Most people there did. As I said in a previous comment, Codepink has absolutely no reputation and honor to lose. We do. Think about that. As far as the concession that "the media is going to slime us regardless", sure, let's make it even worse!

As far as Posada is concerned, let me just say that supporting him is not a prerequisite for being a true patriot for the Cuban cause.

I'm sorry if I feel strongly about this, but I'm sick and tired of certain elements of our community screwing it up for the rest of us who work hard and spend countless hours educating and informing the uninformed about Cuba.

There is no love loss between Code Pinko and the Cuban American community. Does anyone remember 2 years ago when they decided they would go to Cuba illegally via Mexico- not the trip to Gitmo, before that. From their site:

"This New Year’s CODEPINK will be organizing a large group of fun-loving and freedom-loving Americans to break George Bush’s ban on travel to Cuba. Join co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, together with Academy Award winning producer Paul Haggis, as we visit with farmers at their co-ops, doctors at their family clinics, dancers at the National Folklore Group, and young people at the ballpark. Don’t miss this historic chance to dance salsa, drink mojitos, and visit beautiful beaches—all while defending our constitutional rights!!!

The federal restrictions barring travel to Cuba are not only counterproductive and outmoded in this post-Cold War context, but also a violation of our constitutional freedom to travel. "

I do not doubt they lay blame on the Cuban American community for putting pressure on the government to stop travel to Cuba, preventing them from exercising their "constitutional freedom to travel." So, this latest act against the CA community comes as no surprise to me. That they would ignore the whole reason that we prohibit tourism-related travel to Cuba is just a reminder of what a hateful bunch of "anatomically correct" (I assume) females they are.
It should be noted that their attempt to go to Cuba was thwarted, in large part, by Val and Babalu's efforts to contact their congressmen and alert them to the violation of the travel ban. http://www.babalublog.com/archives/002644.html
I know my congressman wrote back and told me he was informing the Homeland Security Office and thanked me for letting him know.

I'm all for peaceful demonstrations but I agree with Robert in that they knew what they were getting into when they went to Calle Ocho but I don't think there was enough time to mobilize people with posters. Cubans just reacted, and rightly so. As a slightly hot-headed person myself, I understand how it ended up it way it did. I'm not saying they should have gone after the truck. But I understand.

As for them not going to see the Damas de Blanco, of course they wouldn't. The Damas are LADIES. Code Pinko has nothing in common with them.

Claudia

First off ... He was tried and acquitted how many times? Give the man a break.
Second ... Give these bitches no quarter. What reception would we get in the Haight should we protest for freedom in Cuba. I can say from experience (I went to SF State) that physical violence is almost a guarantee. No. You don't go to Little Havana to support fidel and expect to walk away with no incident. What they did was insulting to us and stupid.
Third ... I don't care if we're portrayed as brutes by the MSM. The only way they will change their opinion is if we roll over and play dead for them like good little Latinos. Fuck them. The conservative blogs are cheering us (the Cuban-American community) on at least.
Has anyone heard that they are planning to go back today?I would love to be there if I can since I will actually be in town.

The exiled Cuban community has always had a bad reputation with the media and specially liberals, so who cares what they think about us now?, We are the bad guys anyways is just like what the world think about the US, no matter how much goodwill we spread we are the enemy, so screw them. They have the right to protest, so do we.

Ya know, if George Bush said that empanadas taste bad, Susie Benjamin and her crowd would be in Miami supporting Cuban-American bakeries against the evil Bush anti-empanada machine.

The Left blames the C-A community for losing Florida in 2000 there's and nothing ya'all can do can make up for it. Ya might as well run a few Leftists out of town every once-in-awhile.

If it happens again during my annual vacation to Miami next month, I'll gladly join ya.

Robert, I know you feel strongly about this, and I respect your opinion, but we’re not going to agree on this. You said, regarding the Vigilia Mambisa, "they were looking for trouble, just as they got last year with the Chavez dorks.” Those guys weren't just dorks, but activists with an agenda, and they, like the Code Pink ladies deserved to be chased away. My first reaction to both these incidents is that it's a shame these old people are out there by themselves. I don't believe these actions reflect badly on the community. The honor is in doing what you believe is right, regardless of public opinion. The press is going to depict the community negatively no matter what we do; tailoring one's action in an effort to placate them is called appeasement, and never works. As far as this incident undermining those countless hours we've all spent educating and informing the uninformed about Cuba, part of that education process is explaining to people why some Cubans have very strong emotional reactions to certain things, like that image of che, or their heroes being attacked. As someone else pointed out, when the Nazi's wanted to march in Skokie, it was correctly thought of as a provocation, and no one denigrated the Jewish community for their reaction. As far as Posada, no, supporting him is not not a prerequisite for being a true patriot for the Cuban cause, but the international campaign that's declared him guilty even though he's twice been aquitted and would gladly hand him over to the firing squad should disturb anyone who believes in the rule of law and due process.

Alberto;
I agree. Ripping down a few yards of pink bunting is hardly "violence" in any meaningful measure. Now, wrapping them up in it, and stuffing them in the luggage compartment of a westbound Greyhound, THAT would have been violence.

Funny how satisfying that picture is, isn't it? ;)

Let's Face it, we are not politically smart.
What we should have done is dressed up with white robes and KKK shields and beat the crap out of those bitches, then they can blame the kKK for it, LMAO
Just venting guys.

This would have never happened in the Cuban exile community in the 1960s and 1970s. The Code Pinko truck would have been seized and set ablaze on Calle Ocho and the Code Pinkos would have been treated like the female Parisians who collaborated with the Nazis and had their heads shaved in public.
"Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days."

Here is our anthem:
CODE PINKO!
(To the tune of Ghostbusters)
If there's something strange in your neighborhood
Who you gonna call?
Code Pinko!
If there's something weird and it don't look good
Who you gonna call?
Code Pinko!

I ain't afraid of no Bush
I ain't afraid of no Bush

Dear Ms. Benjamin:

You are, perhaps, familiar with the term "scumbag"? A Scumbag is a used condom that collects the post-coital ejaculate of the male.

You, madam, are truly a human Scumbag; which is an insult to the condom industry. Please feel free to return to Cuba at any time and stay there indefinitely.

~~JD~~

Mr. Long: Your surname and the mention of condoms arouses me. I was infected with so many different STDs in Cuba, in spite of their excellent health care system, that when I have sex, I insist that my men don't wear condoms. That way I can pay them back for the decades of use and abuse I have been subjected to. At age 55, I am post-menopausal infertile, so, I have unprotected sex. "Sticks and stones (and my Cuban ex husband) will break my bones, but names will never hurt me."

OMG! Wrapping people up in tule and shoving them in trunks? Post-coital condoms? Dressing up like KKK and beating women? Setting trucks on fire?

Am I on the Mobalublog? I thought I felt strangely at home.
I cannot stop laughing. The Bush anti-empanada machine???
Whoever is posing as Meada, that anthem put me over the top, I have tears coming out of my eyes.
Thanks for the laughs. You guys are too much.

I don't know anything about the local politics. From the outside, It would seem that going where Code Pink did, to advocate what they advocated, is the equivalent to shouting "Fire" in a crowded theater.
Les

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