Is Cuba a Bioterror Threat?

Nearly two years ago, John Bolton stated that Cuba (or, more specifically, Castro's regime) was a terrorist threat to the United States. At the time, the administration backed away from the remarks. For the last two years, we've heard nothing more about the subject.

Bolton is back, and he's saying the same things.

"I believe the case for the existence of a developmental Cuba (biological weapons research and development) effort is strong," Bolton said.

Bolton's charge came as part of a 25-page written statement on the development and spread of nuclear, chemical and biological arms, despite the fact the Bush administration gently backed away from the same allegations after Bolton made them in May 2002 and did not offer evidence.

Tuesday, Bolton also more specifically said Cuba had been successful at hiding details of its weapons program due to data passed to Havana by convicted spy Ana Belen Montes, ex-senior Cuba analyst for the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s Defense Intelligence Agency. Montes is serving 25 years in federal prison having pleaded guilty to spying for Cuba in 2002.

Would Bolton make this claim without serious supporting evidence? Does this change the nature of our desire to see the Castro regime fall from a policy of ongoing containment to a policy of more actively seeking political change?

Bolton has never offered anything other than speculation on the subject, but proof is potentially hard to show when the methods of gathering intelligence are exposed by publicizing the information. Before the story is given too much credence, I would like to hear what others in the administration have to say on the subject.

Still, as something to give pause for thought, the idea that Castro might have the capability to quickly manufacture chemical weapons is something to consider.

Read the story.

Rebels Without a Clue

It seems the cycle repeats itself, from one generation to the next. This precious gem from yesterday's New York Times:

"I met a college student who wanted the T-shirts, and she had absolutely no idea who Che was," Mr. Trigiani said.

You know civilization is at the brink when your friend forwards the Fashion & Style section of the paper to you with the words "Che" and "blog fodder". Why does this persist? I'm dumbfounded by this adoration of a man who once shot a boy in the head for stealing a loaf of bread.

"I think the more that time goes by, the chicer and chicer Che gets because the less he stands for anything."

About two years ago, Mr. Symmes said, he discovered a bar in London called Che. "It's ultradeluxe and a young guy was the owner," Mr. Symmes said, referring to Hani Farsi, a wealthy Saudi Arabian. "I asked him, `Why Che?' and he answered, `Oh you know, rebellion and all that.' "

Oh, I know man. Rebellion and all that. Hey dude, I'm opening up a pub named "Osama", wanna pitch in? Oh, you don't know who he is? Don't worry, man. He'll look good on our merchandise.

Orchids for Comesflores

Miguel Octavio fotoblogs his orchids when he's not writing about the counterrevolution in Venezuela.

Matt Wright goes to Washington, and fotoblogs some flowers as well.

Spring...is the time I have the best intentions. I'm going to clean and open up my house for the fresh spring air. Time to plant that garden.

[cue music] The hills are alive... [abrupt needle on record scratch]

It's the intent that counts. Planting? ...or some pool playin' at the pub. Pub always wins. I think I'll stop by Lowes on the way and buy some more seeds. It'll feel like progress.

Just when I'm almost out...

...they pull me back in...

Or something to that effect.

I've been wanting to take a blog break since last week - and I'm talking about a total stay away from the media break - yet I keep getting wrapped up in one thing or another here in blogdom. Obviously I really broke my self imposed hiatus today with 2 - count 'em - 2 posts. So, enough! I am now handcuffing myself back at ManCamp for the remainder of the week. Come what may. I need to get away for a few days totally or I will be a raving Cuban lunatic running around the streets of Miami. (Ok ok, I will be another raving Cuban lunatic running around the streets of Miami.)

I want to thank my good friend Scott for taking time away from the excellent Burton Terrace and guest blogging some primo entries here the past few days. Of course, the inimitable and downright incredible Kelley also gets major Thank Yous for stepping out of her comfy cozy Suburban Blight and posting a couple of great entries here, as only she herself could despite the fact that there's some major Spring Fever going on up there in Georgia.

But fret not, dear readers of El Babalù, because I have also just received word that the honorable Zombyboy of ResurrectionSong has heard my sanity's pleas for help and will also be coming to the rescue! So expect a little more blog CPR from his part.

Heck, if there's any of you faithful readers - yes, the both of you - that would be interested in a guest post or 5 here at Babalu, drop me an email. If you aren't freakeshly weird or incredibly certifiably insane, I just might take you up on it.

To quote from a fellow blogger recently back from a small hiatus, albeit not a self-imposed one:

But on the Goodness front, I can't think of a finer population than the blogosphere.

Welcome back, Jim and keep that Smoke on the Water billowing.

And now, I bid you adieu my friends. Adieu.

From the "You Just Can't Make Stuff Like This Up Department"

I just don't know what to say about this:

WHAT A CONVERSATION PIECE!

This boat was abandoned on a Key Largo shore in February. According to authorities, there were at least 4 Cuban immigrants on board. It is an old wooden boat, 18ft long, 5 1/2 feet wide. It has writing on the side in Spanish, with the name "ReyMar", translated means "SeaKing". On the boat was left behind personal belongings such as clothing, shoes, tools, with a yo-yo, (old style spool & line for fishing), along with metal hooks we guess was used for retrieving fish & crudely made funnels used for the gas & oil. The makeshift sails are made of a combination of vinyl, tarp & plastic sheeting tied together with rope. There was apparently a motor which must have been discarded after they ran out of fuel, so that they could lighten the load. We know this because there is a gas tank on board. What they used for anchors are 20lb steel bars tied to a vinyl rope. The propeller has only 2 small blades & is tied to the boat with a cord This type of craft is very unusual. When the Coast Gaurd comes across them, they are automatically sunk into the ocean. To actually acquire one is quite a coup.

ON SALE NOW AT EBAY!!!!

The trailer is included in the price.

Via NBC 6.

Art immitates life?

I received an email from my friend Jerome du Bois of The Tears of Things that convinced me to take a quick break from my blog hiatus. He's posted an excellent article on some Cuban Art versus the true artistry of some Cubans.

The real art of the Cuban people exists not in a creation to be exhibited in a museum or an art festival, but in their ability to transform things of little or no use into necessities.

Drop by Jerome's and read what he has to say about real art in Cuba.

Why I am on a hiatus

Because when I read stuff like this my blood pressure goes through the roof. Fucking sick bastard.

"Citius, Altius, Fortius."

"Swifter, Higher & Stronger."

Up to Mar. 25, almost 900 foreign athletes from 12 countries had registered for the 2nd Cuba Olympics scheduled for April 18-30. Venezuela with 600 athletes will be the largest foreign team taking part in the event. As many as 2,000 athletes of the host country will participate in the Olympics. During the Olympics, on April 29, chess competitions will be held at the Che Guevara Square containing an amazing 12,500 chessboards.

The only publicity they could get, besides Babalu, was the Viet Nam News Agency and two-thirds of the athletes are from Chavezstan. What a sham.

Bad Blogger! Bad!

Val, I have to offer a mea culpa for the lack of guest blogging at Babalu today. Spring has gotten to me here in Atlanta; the weather is perfect, everything is in bloom, and the last thing I've wanted to do all day is sit inside in front of a computer. I'm sorry! I've been a Bad Guest Blogger.

At any rate, I'm here now, and - heh - ready to party, in a bloggy and verbose sort of way. So here's a rundown of the day's headlines!

Let's start with the coolest thing I read all day: NASA thinks that its experimental jet - the X-43A - may have broken the 5,000 mph mark in Saturday's test flight. Woo hoo! Go humanity!

In politics, Condi Rice is getting pestered to testify under oath before the 9/11 commission. You know, I still don't really understand the whole point of the 9/11 commission in the first place. We know who did it. We already know who to blame. So why are we seeking to heap it back on ourselves? Silly.

The new leader of Palestinian extremist organization Hamas says that George W. Bush is the 'enemy of Muslims'. In actuality, Rantisi and his gang of thugs are the enemy of most good and decent Muslims...a pity so few see it that way...

Lord have mercy, I am falling out, here. I've just read the very first thing that John Kerry ever said that I agreed with. Somebody bring my smellin' salts! I'm going to faint!

Finally, Chirac's party takes a beating in France's regional elections. Couldn't happen to a nicer fellow!

Now, I'm off to pay attention to my own blog for a minute, before The Sopranos starts. Ciao!

Why?

You know what I don't understand? I don't understand how liberals can convince themselves that they hold some kind of "moral high ground" over moderates and conservatives when their interpersonal behavior is so vile and repugnant.

They seem to believe in all this happy-hippy-utopian stuff; why are their actions so violent? Why is their rhetoric far more vicious than the "hate speech" that they accuse conservatives of "spewing"? I mean, I understand that a lot of people who hold liberal beliefs are angry with the Bush administration and what they see as wrong actions on its part. Do they think that hard-core conservatives were any happier when Clinton sold us to China? When he got that infamous blowjob from an employee on "company time" in the Oval office? Yes, the republicans attacked the hell out of Clinton...in very conventional, political ways. They never used Clinton's face as a doormat at the RNC. His supporters were never attacked and beaten for their beliefs. Republicans weren't running around carrying signs saying they wished Clinton dead, or that he was Hitler, or disavowing the nation completely because a party was in power that they disagreed with.

I won't be voting Democrat any time soon, because I disagree with almost everything their platform contains, in some form or fashion. But I don't hate Democrats! I don't want any of them dead, for God's sakes. They're patriots, same as me, they want what they see as a strong nation...we just have different ideas on how we get there. So why do they have to be so all-fired ugly about it?

I'd sure like it if they'd act like the tolerant liberals they claim to be.

Greener Pastures

So Val asked me to do a little guest-blogging during his break. It took me all of five seconds to jump on that offer like a duck on a june-bug; I mean, who wouldn't ditch suburban Atlanta for sunny Miami? Sheesh. Now if I could just figure out which button to mash to get my butt a mojito up in here, I'd be all set.

Speaking of sunny Miami, Val and his lovely wife reside in one of my favorite North American cities. I love Miami; from its ultramodern downtown area to Calle Ocho to Coconut Grove to South Beach, Miami is my kind of town. I love nothing better than to roll up to the News Café in the morning, drink a little American coffee and do a crossword, all while watching some of the most beautiful people in existence sashay by on the sidewalk. Then, on a perfect day, I'd go around the corner for some real coffee - the Cuban kind - and saunter down to the beach with it. After soaking up a couple of hours of sun, watching the children play in the crystal-clear sea, I'd mosey back over to the Tiffany for a shower and to dress for dinner. Ahhh. Yesss. I spent a lot of time in Miami when I was younger, and I guess I just fell in love.

See, Miami has always treated me better than I deserved. Back in college, my roommate (also named Kelly) was from Miami. A St. Brendan's girl from the Springs, Kelly went home to see her mother twice a year, at Christmas and Spring Break. I first went with her on one of these trips in about 1989, just about the time that South Beach started hoppin'. It was paradise for two broke-yet-comely college lasses; we'd stay at Kelly's mom's house at night, spend the day at the beach, and go out every evening. In those days, that was all I needed to be happy. I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven!

What made the whole thing so special, such a hook-up, was Kelly's step-dad, a guy named Carlos. Carlos was a big muckety-muck with one of the restaurant groups in Miami, and was working with a place on South Beach that was all the rage at the time. (I don't want to give the name of the place, but I'll tell you it began with an M, and served Italian-fusion type stuff). This place was popular. I mean, popular. When I went with Kelly in spring of 1991, we ate at a table next to Mickey Rourke. His fingernails were filthy! I elbowed Oliver Stone out of my way at the bar; I didn't even know who the guy was until Carlos told me, I just knew he was taking up a lot of space. I walked in on Madonna doing keybumps with some other chick in the ladies'. It was that kind of place.

The beautiful thing was that because of Carlos, Kelly and I got the best of everything. We'd slouch up to The Me-------- in our TJ Maxx finery, and be seated long before ladies dripping with diamonds. Everything was free, everything the best. After we stuffed ourselves to bursting on fresh-grilled swordfish and pinot grigio, Carlos would ask where we had in mind to go next. Then he'd motion to a waiter to bring him a phone - a cellphone the size of a toaster - and call the owners of the clubs we wanted to go to, to make sure they "took care of us". A limo would draw up shortly, and ferry us from hip destination to hip destination. It was amazing; people stared at us, whispered from behind secretive palms and wondered "who we were". For a brief time, we two middle-class college girls from the burbs lived like stars. And honey, whatever "mojo" is, Carlos had it, in spades.

I went to Miami with Kelly over and over again, at least twice a year for about five years. These days, Kelly and I don't talk much; we fell out over politics a few years back and I think she's written me off as a hopeless neocon nazi-type bitch. Carlos got sent to prison over some kind of fraud charge - of which I remain convinced that he was innocent - and Kelly's mom divorced him, moved to West Palm, and married some other guy. Now, I only get to go there when I can afford to go on vacation, which isn't very often. The star treatment was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. I hope to go to Miami with my husband and son this spring, and meet the Babalus.

I'd often thought of moving to Miami when I was younger, but it never happened. It's just as well. Given my penchant for suburbs, I'd probably be living in Kendall, anyway. Six in one, half dozen in the other.

"There are no political prisoners..."

"...only politicians in prison."

President Hugo Chavez, leader of the so-called "Bolivarian Revolution" in Venezuela, has learned well from his mentor in Cuba. During recent protests aimed at validating signatures for a re-call process, the government rounded up several opposition leaders and charged them with crimes against the state. This is in addition to several activists having been killed and or who have dissappeared after being in the custody of the National Guard.

The truth is being exposed to the world on sites such as TDE and Caracas Chronicles. The government, absurdly, denies that there are disappearances, denies that they are holding political prisoners and has removed, literally picked up whole facilities and moved them, to prevent any evidence of the murders from being examined.

This is why in Venezuela, they call Chavez "Fidelito". Little Fidel.

Delio Laureano Resquejo Rodriguez...

...is approximately the same age as my father. Rodriguez, a mild-mannered farmer, was one of the founders of The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba. Like my father, Rodriguez spent the better part of his life trying to help others who were less fortunate than himself. When he heard that a friend of his had been beaten by the secret police and was hospitalized, he and others like him stood outside of the hospital and asked that an investigation be launched into the beating and asked for assurances that their friend would not be harmed any further.

This is the kind of thing you would expect a neighbor, a friend, or a father to do. Imagine if this were your father. You wouldn't think anything of it... "There goes my old man again," you might say, somewhat embarrassed by the publicness of his act, but also secretly proud of him for standing up for someone in need.

But the last thing you would expect is that your father would immediately get snatched up, whisked away, propped up for humiliation in a old-fashioned soviet-style show trial and sentenced to twenty years in prison. Not your father, not possible. He was just visiting a friend in the hospital. What kind of twisted, mixed up world puts an old man in prison for sticking up for a neighbor who's getting his head bashed in? It's not your father, or husband or brother. But imagine if it were. I know my father would have done the same thing. Yours too. But now...who's standing up for Mr. Rodriguez?

One last post before hiatus....

This is a must read from Steve's Little Tiny Lies.

BlogBreak

I will be taken a few days away from the blog as I really need a break. Too much stuff going on, too much bickering, too much arguing...

I've asked Scott of Burton Terrace as well as the fabulous Kelley of Suburban Blight to guest post a few entries while Im out remembering what real life is like.

I will still be lurking around I suppose, but I just have other things to attend to at the moment.

I know you will enjoy both Kelley and Scott's writing, both much better bloggers than I.

Hasta luego.

I want my ManCamp™

Usually, I'm parked over at Burton Terrace, but Val was kind enough to let me blog while he's off at "the office" working hard, kicking South Florida business butt...

A couple of articles caught my attention, and are blogged below for your perusal. I'm off to band practice in a little bit. (Shameless plug--buy your Scuba Chinchillas gear here!)

Val, I'll try not to mess up the place. Where's the Hatuey?

Solidarity

It's times like these you know who your friends are. When so many governments are rushing to make rum and cigar deals, it's no wonder that the Czechs should stand in sharp contrast to our "old" European allies. The mayor of Prague recently opened a four-day commemoration of the anniversary of the Cuban 75 by pronouncing a mock sentencing of 75 Czech political and cultural personalities. Talk about getting your message across...

He sentenced Simon Panek, director of the People in Need humanitarian organization and 74 other volunteers to an hour's imprisonment.

"We would like to send a signal primarily to Cuba, to those people who are trying to do something against Castro, to let them know that they are not alone, that someone is thinking of them, that we are not indifferent," Panek told news agency CTK.

By Frantisek Bouc
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
(March 25, 2004)

There is nothing like a little street theater to make a point.

That is what some high-profile protesters against Cuba's human rights policies decided when they erected a mock prison cell on Prague's Wenceslas Square -- and then went directly to jail.

Sort of.

Prague Mayor Pavel Bem opened a four-day campaign March 15 commemorating the anniversary of last year's imprisonment of 75 political prisoners in Cuba by pronouncing a mock sentence on 75 Czech political and cultural personalities.

He sentenced Simon Panek, director of the People in Need humanitarian organization and 74 other volunteers to an hour's imprisonment.

"We would like to send a signal primarily to Cuba, to those people who are trying to do something against Castro, to let them know that they are not alone, that someone is thinking of them, that we are not indifferent," Panek told news agency CTK.

Last year, People in Need arranged an aid program for real Cuban prisoners and their family members. Each month the group sends financial and material aid.

The cell on Wenceslas Square, which at about 8 square meters (86 square feet) was twice as large as a typical prison cell in Cuba, held a chair, a table and a blanket.

Among those serving one-hour sentences were volunteers recruited from human rights circles, celebrities and leading politicians.

Senate Chairman Petr Pithart spent an hour in the cell dressed in a striped prison uniform. Pithart said he wanted to point at the cruel practices of Cuban President Fidel Castro's regime.

"I know the atmosphere of the Cuban secret-police investigation rooms. ... Those 75 prisoners have undoubtedly passed through them as well," Pithart said.

In January 2001 Pithart made a trip to Cuba to force Castro to release two Czech citizens, Jan Bubenik and former Freedom Union Deputy Ivan Pilip, who were detained for almost a month for alleged partisan activities against the Castro regime.

Pilip was invited to spend an hour in the Wenceslas Square prison, but he rejected the invitation.

"I did support the campaign, but I didn't write my name on any paper," Pilip said. "Actually, I already served a real Cuban imprisonment and so I did not need to fake it."

Lackey and toady

After overthrowing communism in 1989, the Czech Republic joined the appeals against the Castro regime in the mid-'90s. Czech officials initiated resolutions condemning human rights abuse in Cuba in three conferences of the UN Commission for Human Rights in 1999, 2000 and 2001. In the most recent conference in Geneva, Switzerland, March 17, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque denounced the Czech Republic as a "despicable lackey of the United States and Washington's toady."

Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda told The Prague Post that the Czech Republic was determined to spotlight any nondemocratic regime anywhere in the world.

"The Czech Republic will always fight against suppressing democracies, be it in Cuba or Burma [Myanmar]," Svoboda said. "From our own experience, we remember quite well that dissidents were always strengthened when the former communist regime in Czechoslovakia received international criticism."

A number of political analysts, however, have raised their eyebrows at the Czech Republic's seemingly heavy focus on Cuba. The Castro regime is just one of many nondemocratic governments worldwide and the Czech state does not have a consistent approach toward them, some analysts say.

"It's hypocrisy to criticize Cuba and to your close eyes in front of other even worse regimes," said political analyst Jiri Pehe, who heads New York University in Prague.

Pehe said the issue of consistency in Czech foreign policy came to the foreground after leading government representatives welcomed North Korean Parliament Chairman Che Te-bok during his visit to the Czech Republic March 11.

"It's not very comprehensive to protest against Cuba just days after welcoming a leading representative of what is perhaps the worst regime in the world," Pehe said.

Svoboda, who also met with Che Te-bok, argued that the Czech foreign policy was balanced in treating controversial regimes worldwide.

"There's nothing bad about meeting with representatives of any regimes and confronting them with our standpoints," Svoboda said. "We need to meet them and speak, not to meet them and remain silent."

THE CUBAN CONNECTION

• 1999-2001: The Czech Republic initiates resolutions condemning human rights abuse in Cuba in three conferences of the UN Commission for Human Rights

• January 2001: Czech citizens Jan Bubenik and former Freedom Union Deputy Ivan Pilip detained in Havana and kept in prison for almost a month for alleged partisan activities against the Castro regime.

• March 15-19, 2004: People in Need humanitarian organization commemorates the imprisonment of 75 political prisoners in Cuba by building a mock cell on Wenceslas Square.

• March 17, 2004: Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque denounces the Czech Republic as a "despicable lackey of the United States and Washington's toady" at the UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.

Frantisek Bouc can be reached at fbouc@praguepost.com

Cuba's Spring

The basic premise of yesterday's Washington Post editorial is that Euroweenies and Canadians are prolonging the lifespan of the regime and hindering the counterrevolution. Bravo. Here's some of what they had to say:

A YEAR AGO Cuba's Communist government cracked down on nonviolent dissidents, independent journalists, human rights activists, librarians and teachers. Within weeks, 75 of them were in prison, sentenced to terms ranging from 6 to 28 years after one-day closed trials. Carried out while the world's attention was focused on the war in Iraq, this was President Fidel Castro's attempt to destroy a pro-democracy civil society that had been peacefully emerging. A year later, the bad news is that those 75 political prisoners are still locked away, in many cases under inhumane conditions. The worse news is that Mr. Castro has gotten away with his crime: He has set back the cause of freedom in Cuba, and suffered few consequences.

True, the Bush administration reacted to the arrests last year by tightening some sanctions on Cuba -- cheap toughness from an administration eager to please the Cuban exile community in Florida. But Congress sent the opposite message, voting to end enforcement of a travel ban. The European Union adopted some token sanctions. But European trade and tourists continue to provide the hard currency that props up Mr. Castro's regime. More help has come from Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, a Castro wannabe who supplies his mentor with oil on sweetheart terms. Irresponsible populists elsewhere in Latin America, such as Argentina's Nestor Kirchner, have courted the dictator; when the Argentine foreign minister visited Havana, he declined to meet with spouses of the imprisoned democrats.

Those spouses have carried on their own brave campaign to report on the cruel conditions in the prisons, despite harassment and threats from the regime. According to a letter released last week by seven international human rights groups, "many of the imprisoned, such as economists Oscar Espinosa Chepe and Marta Beatriz Roque, are not receiving adequate medical care for conditions that, in some cases, have developed during incarceration and are life-threatening. Others, like Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, have been held in solitary confinement for months, denied family visits and access to sunlight."

One of Cuba's foremost dissidents, Oswaldo Paya, who was not arrested, released his own letter last week and said he and his followers are still pursuing the Varela Project, a petition demanding a referendum on democracy and human rights that has attracted more than 25,000 signatures. "They suffer, and their families and friends suffer with them," Mr. Paya said of the prisoners. "But they have not given up, and we will not give up. . . . From the darkness of their cells, they are proclaiming the Cuban Spring, which is the hope of all people." The failure of the international community to hold Mr. Castro accountable for his crimes against some of Cuba's best writers, journalists and teachers means that that spring probably will not arrive this year. But even Mr. Castro, feebly clinging to his failed ideology at age 77, must know in his heart that it is coming.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

". . .you can get blogged out. There's so much blog."

Oliver Stone in reference to HBO's refusing to air his movie "Comandante" on the life of Fidel Castro.

"There was a tremendous response, especially negative, from the American-Cuban lobbies," he says in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. "It's ugliness and I think because of computers they can make a million e-mails out of five people. They can clone themselves into a larger power than they really are and it's just paper."

I am happy to say I am one of the five American-Cubans he refers to. I was part of that email campaign.

Although Stone disagreed with HBO that his conversations with Castro had been rendered outdated, he understood that even a subscriber-based cable channel is subject to political and economic pressures, what he calls one of capitalism's weaknesses.

Sorry Oliver, it's called freedom of speech. HBO could have run the film if it wanted to, but decided against it not only because of the efforts of anti-Castro elements, but because while he has a podium via his filmaking and celebrity status, we poor unknown folks have a podium through our wallets. Money talks, bullshit walks.

Stone argues that his country should emulate Canada and end its four-decade-old boycott of Cuba. He is not the least apologetic about his clear admiration of Castro, as a survivor and as a person. And he has no regrets about his now-infamous statement that he found Fidel to be one of the world's wisest people.

Perhaps Stone should have interviewed some Cuban filmakers while he was there. Maybe he would have seen how the political machine works for artists in the island. Certainly there must be some "political" pressures there, no? If a Cuban journalist can't even write about conditions on the island without being encarcerated, how would a Cuban film maker fare if he produced a movie depicting life - real life - on the island?

Read the entire interview in the extended entry. It's worth it.

Oliver Stone glad Canada has guts to air his 'blogged' Castro documentary

John Mckay, Tue Mar 23,12:43 PM ET

TORONTO (CP) - Oliver Stone (news) has always attracted the lightning and it's happened again.

The director of such controversial films as JFK, Natural Born Killers and Nixon says his recent project, a documentary on Fidel Castro (news - web sites), was the victim of a fake e-mail campaign, a new "sickness" that he believes threatens pop culture and even democracy itself.

Stone's Comandante is a free-form personality profile of the durable Cuban dictator culled from 30 hours of interview video he and his crew shot in Havana in 2002. But it was cancelled by HBO last May when the U.S. network argued that a new, aggressive crackdown on dissidents in Cuba had rendered the film incomplete and outdated. Apart from screenings at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals, it has not been seen, especially by American audiences, and no U.S. telecast is planned.

But Comandante has been acquired by CBC Newsworld, which plans to air it in prime time Sunday night, making it the only broadcast in North America in the foreseeable future.

Stone says he's glad Canada had the guts and he's hoping some Americans along the Canada-U.S. border at least might catch it.

"Canadians have always been open to Castro and Cuba, they go down there a lot. You know, what harm is there in seeing it? What harm in letting someone speak for himself?"

Stone also hopes to reacquire the rights to Comandante and release it on DVD.

Shades of Mel Gibson (news)'s The Passion of the Christ controversy or of the CBS decision to axe that Ronald Reagan (news) biopic, Stone says it was a low point in his career when it became clear that 95 per cent of the film's critics in the media hadn't even seen his documentary.

"There was a tremendous response, especially negative, from the American-Cuban lobbies," he says in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. "It's ugliness and I think because of computers they can make a million e-mails out of five people. They can clone themselves into a larger power than they really are and it's just paper."

The 56-year-old filmmaker says he's convinced, though, that such paper now plays an important role in the process of mucking up democracies.

"It's just a sickness and popular culture is really prey to that. . .you can get blogged out. There's so much blog."

Anti-Castro elements weren't the only critics, however. Roger Ebert wrote that as an old baseball player, Castro easily knocked Stone's softball questions out of the park. Another said it was akin to making a documentary on Al Capone and neglecting to mention he was a gangster.

Although Stone disagreed with HBO that his conversations with Castro had been rendered outdated, he understood that even a subscriber-based cable channel is subject to political and economic pressures, what he calls one of capitalism's weaknesses.

So he agreed to HBO's request to return to Havana and conduct a more confrontational interview, which he says he did last May. The result, called Looking For Fidel, will air on HBO April 14 and may also be acquired by the CBC at a later date.

But it's clear Stone is passionate about Comandante, which he says shows off a charismatic world leader in a relaxed state that few people have seen before. He concedes he's not the hard-hitting Mike Wallace type and that while he did ask some tough questions, when he got answers he let it go because he's polite.

"The words are in his mouth, they're not in mine. I may have a bias or not but the point is he still reveals himself and it allows the viewer to make up his mind."

Stone says La Barba was given the right to say "Cut" at any moment the questions became uncomfortable but that he never invoked that right.

"He said 'Go make your movie, shoot what you want.' There's a man who is at ease with himself, he's comfortable in his skin as the French would say."

Intercut with grainy newsreel footage of the 1959 revolution, the 93-minute film is a handheld medley of cinema verite moments all cut to the constant rhythm of Latin music on the soundtrack.

We see Stone sharing the backseat of Castro's car, even opening some of his host's mail. The camera pans down to reveal that Castro wears Nikes. He jokes with Stone about Viagra, about movies, about love and about never considering seeing a shrink. He gets serious when he says he didn't buy the lone gunman theory of the JFK assassination, that he never wanted Soviet missiles in Cuba, and that his regime does not believe in torture or terrorism.

At one point Castro asks Stone if he was decorated for his Vietnam service. Yes, Stone replies quietly. Was he wounded? Another low-key affirmative.

The film ends with the two men at the airport, parting with a hug.

Stone argues that his country should emulate Canada and end its four-decade-old boycott of Cuba. He is not the least apologetic about his clear admiration of Castro, as a survivor and as a person. And he has no regrets about his now-infamous statement that he found Fidel to be one of the world's wisest people.

"It's come back to haunt me, absolutely. No question. But I maintain he's been on the world stage for 40 years. . .you can hate him, but you can't ignore him."

Sleep Deprivation

I've been having some major insomnia lately. Can't seem to sleep a whole night through. So posting may be lethargic for the next few days.

A step in the right direction

From the Miami Herald:

U.S. bans anti-dissidents

The United States will deny entry to 300 Cubans identified by the States as 'Cuban regime authorities who are involved in acts of repression.'

By Nancy San Martin

Some 300 Cubans who participated in the ''show trials'' of 75 dissidents a year ago will be barred from entry into the United States, U.S. officials said Friday. The prisoners' wives held a rare march in Havana to demand amnesty for them.

The U.S. ban is aimed at judges, lawyers, police and witnesses who helped condemn independent journalists, human rights activists and other peaceful dissidents to prison terms of up to 28 years following an island-wide crackdown last March.

It covers some 300 Cubans identified by the State Department, and close family members, if they were to apply for U.S. visas. Authorities are still reviewing Cuban court records to identify others who also would be denied visas.

''What this shows is the United States takes notice of and action against Cuban regime authorities who are involved in acts of repression,'' said a State Department official, who asked for anonymity. "These people will not come to the United States, period.''

In Havana, 15 dissidents' wives dressed all in white met at the well-known Coppelia ice cream restaurant in central Havana and shouted ''Freedom for the 75 political prisoners!'' as they marched seven blocks to Department of Prisons headquarters, The Associated Press reported.

The women submitted a letter addressed to the prison director and boarded a bus for the Miramar neighborhood, where they walked another 30 blocks down the main Quinta Avenida thoroughfare until reaching headquarters of Cuba's legislative body.

There, the women delivered another letter addressed to National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, asking for amnesty for the 75 prisoners. Such a gesture ''would be very well received by the Cuban people and by the international community,'' said the letter, according to the Associated Press.

In trials that lasted no more than a day, the dissidents were accused of working with U.S. diplomats in Havana to undermine Cuban President Fidel Castro's government. The arrests sparked world-wide condemnation and fractured Cuba's diplomatic relations with the European Union.

The U.S. visa denial is part of the Bush Administration's recently stepped up enforcement of sanctions on Cuba. In recent months, the administration has tightened travel restrictions, stepped up enforcement of commercial sanctions and threatened to prosecute firms that do business with Cuba.

Havana has defended the crackdown, saying it has the right to protect the nation from foreign attempts to change its socialist system.

Posted by Val Prieto at 03:05 PM | Permanent Link to this Post

What It's Like to be Cuban

My Goddaughter emailed me the following yesterday and it brought me to tears. I have taken the liberty of translating it:

Look, Grandpa, I have a surprise for you. At school they asked me to write about something and I wrote about your Cuba. Listen, Grandpa:

Cuba is a sacred word. It’s the word I’ve heard the most in my life. I’m sure the first words I heard when I first came into this world were those of my grandfather screaming “Damn, another Cuban has just been born onto this world!”

Cuba is the word that when mentioned on the evening news I know I must remain quiet. And if I don’t shut up I have to hear the whole family scolding me saying “Shut your mouth, boy! They’re talking about Cuba!”

And if on the American news they hear the word “QIUBA” I already know that I have to listen and be ready to translate, because my grandfather will immediately ask me “Come on , come on. What are they saying about Cuba son?” But in my surroundings Cuban isn't a word. It is a creed, it is a religion. It seems as if all in my home have Cuba up on an altar.

Cuba is an obsession. I imagine that even the Holy water found in churches comes from some river in Cuba. And with all my grandpa’s strength, with all the times he’s insisted to me that “men don’t cry,” he cries every time he mentions Cuba. Cuba is like a shadow that follows me. Cuba is in conversations, in discussions, at parties and at funerals. It’s in the newspapers my grandfather reads and in the shape of a small island on a chain that my grandmother gave me. Cuba was even spoken at my little sister’s fifteens party.

Having Cuban blood, that blood which my grandpa is always saying is in me, is great. Because it allows me to go to McDonald’s and Burker King and then come home and have croquetas and papas rellenas. I can listen to my American music and atthe same time love when I hear Celia Cruz and her “Azucaaaa!”

My school friends only have one country, I have two; mine and my grandparents’. They have their heroes and I have mine and my grandparents’. Plus my school friends don’t have the privilege of knowing who Jose Marti, Antonio Maceo and Maximo Gomez were. I know who they were because my grandfather taught me. And I have, according to my grandmother, three saints – San Lazaro, Santa Barbara, y La Caridad del Cobre – that protect me from so much as a cold.

Where is Cuba you ask? If you ask my grandfather he will tell you by pointing to his chest. Cuba is there. In my grandfather’s heart! But grandpa and I don’t always agree on what is Cuba. For me Cuba is Livan Hernandez and for him it’s Orestes Miñoso. For me Cuba is Andy Garcia and for him it’s Cesar Romero. For me Cuba is Gloria Estefan and for him it’s Olga Guillot. For me, Cuba is Willy Chirino and for him it’s Barbarito Diez. For me, Cuba is salsa. For grandpa it’s el danzon, la rumba y el son.

Cuba, according to the map in school, is in the Caribbean, but the truth is that Cuba is in my home. It’s in my refrigerator. It’s in my back yard in the avocado and guava trees my grandfather planted. Cuba is in the lunch my mom makes me and the coffee my grandmother brews.

I don’t know what grade I will receive with this composition, but it doesn’t matter. I’m happy because I’m sure grandpa, with tears in his eyes, will give me an ‘A.’ And my proud and smiling grandfather will say “No, I’m not going to cry, I won’t just give you and ‘A’ but a strong hug. Coño!”

“Domitila, vieja, come here so you can hear what my grandson wrote me!!...”

Man, how I miss my grandparents.

California, Hotbed of Intolerance

The Supreme Court will take up "Under God" in the pledge of allegiance. It began with a California atheist suing the Sacramento school district and winning, thus appeals have brought it all the way up the legal ladder to the Supreme Court.

Next we'll have someone suing to change the name of:

Los Angeles - literally: the Angels

Followed by lawsuits agaianst the following cities named after Saints:

San Bernardino
San Bruno
San Carlos
San Clemente
San Diego
San Dimas
San Fernando
San Francisco
San Gabriel
San Gregorio
San Jacinto
San Jose
San Juan Bautista
San Juan Capistrano
San Leandro
San Lorenzo
San Luis Obispo
San Marcos
San Marino
San Martin
San Mateo
San Pablo
San Pedro
San Rafael
San Ramon
Santa Ana
Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara-by-the-Sea
Santa Clara
Santa Clarita
Santa Cruz
Santa Fe Springs
Santa Margarita
Santa Maria
Santa Monica
Santa Paula
Santa Rosa
Santa Ynez

Oh, and Sacramento, where the lawsuit was first filed, is Spanish for Sacrament.

I know the feeling...

Today's Non-Sequitur pretty much sums up how I've been feeling lately:

Investing in Cuba

In the following article from Cubanet, Cuban journalist Ariel Delgado Covarrubias reports that foreign concerns doing business in Cuba down for 2003:

HAVANA, March 19 (Ariel Delgado Covarrubias) For the first time in 15 years, the number of foreign business concerns operating in Cuba has diminished, from 403 at the end of 2002 to 342 at the end of 2003, according to the Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Marta Lomas.

Even with fewer companies, said the minister, there was an increase in exports, internal sales, and profits. She said 70 cents of every dollar invested stayed in the country, and pegged net profits at 17%.

The sectors most favorably affected by foreign investment are basic industry, communications, tourism, computing, agriculture and food production. Spain, Canada, Italy and France are the four biggest investors in the island.

According to ministry reports, 3,242 entrepreneurs from 85 countries expressed and interest in investing in the Cuban economy. Despite existing U. S. government regulations forbidding most forms of trade between the two countries, the ministry said 62 U. S. delegations traveled to Havana for exploratory conversations.

62 U.S. delegations traveled to Cuba for trade talks. 3,242 entrepeneurs want to do business, 342 business concerns in Cuba. 70 cents of ever dollar stays in the island. What is missing here? Why isnt there any mention of how many Cuban companies there are in Cuba? Why is there no mention of any Cuban businesses?

Because Cubans aren't allowed to own businesses. They aren't allowed to own their homes, much less run a business venture. This is what steams me about companies from the US wanting to trade with Cuba under the guise of "helping" the Cuban people. The fact is they won't really be helping the people much as the people aren't in on it. Trade with Cuba is trade with Castro's regime.

The average Cubano isnt even allowed to make crappy Cuban trinkets to sell to the tourists. All the money from businesses trading with Cuba goes to Fidel and his minions.

Fidel Castro, heralded Marxist revolutionary turned bourgeois capitalist entraordinaire.

Common Sense and No Wonder

I don't need any other proof that they are all linked other than they all want me dead.

We are at war. Stop sleeping with the enemy. Please.

Thanks Michele. Once again, perfectly said.

Assault and battery

If I were to have seen what the picture shows in this post at Michele's in person, I would be in jail right now. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could have stopped the overwhelming anger that would have made me beat the living shit out of the two clowns holding up that poster.

Peace my ass. I have nothing but content for those who rejoice at the death of innocents. Animals the lot of them.

More on Independent Journalists

Last week was the one year anniversary of the encarceration of 75 independent journalists and librarians. I posted on the subject here. With all the gathering of info and time in putting together that post, I missed an excellent piece of news that Rob A. of FineWhyFine found and commented on. The wives of the imprisoned dissidents were allowed an unprecedented protest march on the day of the anniversary. Drop by Rob's and check out the story.

Castro has been criticized by the world community for the treatment of the 75, yet the regime continues its assault on journalists whose views differ from the that of the government's. While the punishment may not be as severe, it is still the stifling of the truth through whatever means possible.

In this story from Cubanet, we see just one method of keeping free thought under the jack boot of the bearded dictator:

HAVANA, March 19 (Reinaldo Cosano Alén / www.cubanet.org) - Independent journalist Carlos Garcell Pérez says agents from State Security forced him to abandon his father-in-law's home where he had been living.

Garcell Pérez conceded that he did not have government permission to live in the house, located in Moa in Holguín province, as required by law.

He said that his father-in-law was told that his granddaughter would lose her job if her stepfather continued living at the house.

He said he and his wife and two-month-old baby have moved back to their home in Sagua de Tánamo, also in Holguín province.

"Now our family is divided," he said.

Garcell Pérez is director of the APLO news agency.

Imagine living in a place where you are not only prevented from speaking your mind, but where the government's hold on you is so all encompassing that they control where you are allowed to live.

Sun Day

My wife has an open house today in Surfside on Miami Beach. It's a great house she has listed thats a few blocks from the ocean.

So I, being the fantastically cool husband that I am, am going with her. Of course, I wont be at the open house for more than a few minutes. Im going to take my friend Mr. Beach Chair and Mr. Cooler - who just so happens invited Mr. Six Pack with us - and stroll down to the beach for a few hours.

Surfside is my favorite beach on Miami Beach. Quiet and with no crowds. Have a good Sunday everyone.

UPDATE: I took a good book along with me, set up Mr. Chair, opened Mr. Cooler and hung out with Mr. Six Pack and after a few minutes fell asleep in the noonday sun. I am totally and completely sunburned and in some major discomfort. Cant wait to go back next week.

Site Meter problems

Is anyone else having problems with their site meter counts?

Yesterday I had over a certain amount of visits, today the same count is down by 1000 visits. Is it a probelm with site meter or are you guys coming here and taking your visits with you?

Sorry Oliver, but you're just wrong.

Oliver Willis has a post up on Cuba and the embargo and Elian and us Miami Cuban crazies that is so completely wrong that...well..its frustrating.

Listen folks, contrary to popular belief, we Cuban-Americans don't run neither Cuba nor the US. We are just a cog in the wheel of a US foreign policy begun almost a century ago. Deal with it or get out of the fray.

Search query

There's a person that came to my site with a google on "Cuba windsurfing."

Let me just point something out: if the windsurfing were all that great in Cuba, all the boards and sails would end up here in Florida.

Get it?

The Command Post

Today marks the one year benchmark for the best up to the minute news and information source on the net. If you havent been to the Command Post, you are just totally missing out.

Thanks to Michele and Alan and everyone else involved for all the hard work in providing us with such a great, one-stop-get-all-the-info-you-need-to-know-on-any-particular-news-item place to go.

A Heartfelt Gracias

I want to thank my fellow bloggers for their support with yesterday's post on the 75 Cuban dissidents. Patrick, Ian, Zombyboy, the Frogman, Rob A., Dean, and Kelley, thank you for helping me spread the word. I hope that our efforts enlighted some on the plight of the Cuban dissidents. Even if only one person learned of their situation, then our efforts weren't in vain.

Gracias.

UPDATE: Joe of Attaboy picked up the torch as well. Gracias Joe.

Even more support from The New American Revolutionist. Many thanks.

For the deliberately blind

I caught a program on the History Channel last night called The Horrors of Hussein. This documentary followed the life of Saddam from the beginning of his "political" career. It was beyond appalling, beyond disturbing and beyond disgusting.

Everyone knows Saddam was a brutal dictator but I think many take that statement at face value. He was more than brutal. He was more than murderous. How any human being can do the things he did to others is beyond me.

Hearing what that man did to his own people, sometimes directly from victims of his torture, made my stomach turn.

Anyone that says we should not have gone into Iraq and removed this man from power is deliberately blinding him or herself to what that man was. I recommend you see that documentary if it is repeated. You'll see the real face of pure evil and hatred and understand why it wasn't only in our best interest to remove him from power, but it was our duty as human beings to eliminate him.

Aniversario

Today marks one year that the Castro regime encarcerated at least 75 political prisoners in what can only be understood as a means of stifling opinion and information on the island. These prisoners of conscience, through mock trials - guilty without the regime's need to prove their guilt - have been sentenced to in some cases over 20 years merely for bringing the Cuban people information about the world outside their Elba.

Independent journalists, doctors, librarians, all thrown in jails with the common prison population and subjected to arduous humility, pain and suffering.

There are some organizations and governments that have blasted the Castro regime for these encarcerations, but, for the most part, the world remains either unaware or uncaring.

This quote from Manuel Cuesta Morua, a spokesman for a coalition of moderate dissident groups known as the Progressive Arc sums up the frustration of those working for a change within the island:

"(Cuban)People now ask, what sense is there in working in this direction if we can be jailed? The [Cuban] government has clearly said, both here and to the world, that it will not tolerate the opposition."

Send Fidel Castro an e-mail - let him know how you feel about the situation.
E-Mail: cubaminrex@minrex.gov.cu
Telegram: President Castro, La Habana, Cuba
Fax: 011 53 7 333085 (c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Contact the Cuban Interests Section in Washington
E-mail: secconscuba@worldnet.att.net
Fax: (1-202) 986-7283 2630 16 Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009

Petition to free Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello. Info is here.

Text of the letters sent to the first ladies, spouses and representatives of the heads of state and governments of the Americas.

Free Dr. Elias Biscet.

Cubanet

Net for Cuba International

Cuba and Terrorism

Help me spread the word.

UPDATE: I posted an entry over at the Command Post Op Ed section on this.

UPDATE:Here is the link for Granma International. Notice there is not a single article on any political prisoners on the island.

Because I'm a lazy ass...

I've been remiss in adding a few blogs to my blogroll because I'm basically a procrastinating lazy ass. I read the following sites daily but havent added them to blogrolling because its been so simple for me to just grab them from my favorites list.

Baldilocks and Pamibe and Attaboy. These blogs are well worth a visit and a thorough reading. Drop by and tell them the Cuban sent you.

Also, you may want to drop by FineWhyFine and check it out. I just recently found this blog and, well, it too is well worth a read.

Sorry for the laziness guys. My bad.

I've never had a Beretta...

...32...I've had a .22 but that was just a .22.

Man, do I love my wife.

BAG Day

What is BAG Day you may ask? This year, on the dreaded date of April 15th, I will be celebrating BAG Day by going out and Buying A Gun. No, Im not gonna shoot my accountant, promise.

Drop by Aaron's place for more info on this wonderful holiday.

Cox & Forkum nail it.

As usual, Cox & Forkum are spot on about el Chancletero.

Here are the keys to the hen house, fox, lock up when you're done.

"Howard Dean is a stupid, unpatriotic son of a bitch who ought to be muzzled."

One more Cubanism

Bloggage will be light here today as I am working on a deadline, but I just wanted to provide you, my loyal readers - yes, the both of you - one more quick, politically motivated Cubanism.

My last Cubanism was the word Chancletero. Derived from the word chancleta which means flip-flop. Naturally then, for the purposes of this blog, Chancletero means a person that flip-flops, un flip-flopper.

Now, today's Cubanism is not really a Cubanism perse, but I like the ring to it so I'll make it one. It is the word zapatero, derived from the word zapato which means shoe. Hence, a zapatero is a shoe maker or salesman.

So, to use both of these Cubanisms in a sentence, it would be something like:

El Zapatero socialista prefiere al el Chancletero democrata.

Translation:

The socialist shoe maker prefers the democrat flip-flopper.

For Brad

Brad,

You certainly have quite some nerve coming to my weblog and labeling me a fascist. Must make you feel like a big man being able to slander someone while enjoying the anonimity and safety behind your computer. I suspect...no...I am absolutely positive you wouldn't even begin to contemplate making such an accusation in person.

You sir, are a coward of the very worse kind.

I sure do wish you lived in Miami so you could have the opportunity to show me, in person, just what a huge fascist I am.

Oh, and BTW, yesterday you called me a racist in a different blog. Today Im a fascist. Make up your mind, stop chancleteando.

Siempre Fiel

Heroes die.

Cowards cry.

And there are those that understand what service means, and give their lives.

Bill Whittle cuts to the chase

He's got a new essay up, and, as usual, it's incredibly insightful.

I wont ruin it for you by quoting from it but, in the comment's section, he pretty much sums up the Cuban issue quite concisely:

Cuba is a great example, for here is the general tone of my thesis: yes, some see jailed dissidents and others see health care. My point is this: cast away all that nonsense. WHICH WAY ARE THE RAFTS HEADING?

See? Not so hard after all.

Hat tip Ian.

Where's the beach, dude?

I spent over 3 hours in a meeting for work this morning. I get out of said meeting with my brains feeling like scrambled eggs. Over 12 people in a conference room all wanting this or that and that or this.

I get into my car and start to head for the office when I realize it is already 12:15. Lunch Time. So I decide to swing by a drive through on my way back. No time today for a sit down lunch. Lunch has to be to go.

I stop at a red light and I have a Toyota van in front of me. It has racks on the roof with 2 sailboards. Windsurfing. My mind just trails off to the beach. The feel of sand between the toes, the smell of the sea air, the sun, the wind gusting up little drops of ocean on me. I havent windsurfed in years. There's something about the silence of being out there on the bay on a board, with the wind playing it's music on your sail.

Lucky bastard I say to myself about the guy in front of me. He's heading out there right now, on his way to the ocean. What a life!

I roll down my windows to feel the day. It's windy. The guy is going to sail some great wind. Lucky bastard.

Suddenly I get a brief whiff of reefer. Damn it. This guy is smoking pot and he's on his way to do some major windsurfing. That must be one heckova ride. Lucky bastard.

I see some writing on the back windshield of the van. For a moment I'm thinking I would actually buy one of those windboards if he's selling them. I wonder what he's asking for them but I can't makeout the writing because it's in black and the trees are shading the glass.

The light changes and I pull off close to see how much for the boards. He moves passed the shade and I get to see the writing.

Do you feel safer after invading Iraq? I don't.

Sonofabitch. Stupidassmotherfickingreefersmokinghippywindsurfingfuckingbastard. I get so damn pissed I want to ram the back of his fucking van. Stupid fucking bastard. Here I am in the middle of my friggin work day, and having a bad one at that, and this guy is making some political commentary with a beatup minivan on his way to the fucking ocean for some fun in the sun.

How the hell do people like these make a fucking living? What about responsibility? What about all those things that come from being an adult?

I try to pull up next to the guy and make it just before the next traffic light. I pull up right next to him.

"Hey," I say to him. "I read the back windshield man."

"Yeah?" he says. I think he doesnt even know what the fuck Im talking about.

"You know, you are right. I don't feel much safer since invading Iraq," I tell him. He just smiles. "But I bet the Iraqi people do."

The guy's face goes beet red, the light changes to green and he takes off. And as I make my turn I see him giving me the finger.

I couldn't stop fucking laughing. The world really is full of assholes.

El Chancletero

I thought I'd mix today's Cubanism entry with some politics.

Today's Cubanism is chancletero. It is a derivitive of the word chancleta, which means flip-flops- as in the shoe kind - and is meant to describe a lowlife. A crass, vulgar person.

So the proper usage, with a little bit of Americanizing, of the word Chancletero would be something like this:

John Kerry es un chancletero.

Translation:

John Kerry is a flip-flopper.

Yo soy Español

I have not posted much else on the Madrid bombings because I am at a loss for words. So much has been said by so many, and far more eloquently in most cases, that I feared my thoughts and words would appear to be vile in my abhorrance towards the terrorists responsible or too gung-ho in my solidarity with Spain to destroy the bastards responsible for this tragedy. I have been reading a Spanish blog that I read often and have been remiss in adding to my blogroll.

I have agreed with their commentary completely, yet have not commented as much on their site for fear of butchering my mother tongue. While I may have commented in English, it feels wrong for me, a Cuban of Spanish descent, to speak English in their home because my Spanish is dreadful.

Golan and Franco Aleman, the writers of HispaLibertas, have an entry up at Tim Blair's blog about the terrorist attack of the other day. It's in English and it speaks volumes. Not only in the article's succinct words, but by the solidarity shown by people around the world in the comments section.

My heart goes out to the Spanish people and I reiterate what I have said here before to much criticism: Yo soy Español.